The Watchers
by Moonstrider
Summary: A stranger enters everyone's lives and shows them how little they know about the worlds around them. "You can call me Mizuki. ...It's not my real name, but it'll do." BEWARE OF MAJOR SPOILERS!
1. How the Story Unfolds

Hey, guys! I'd just like to warn you all now this has **BUNCHES** of spoilers. It's also slightly out of date since I started writing it around the beginning of last semester (Fall 2011) so BLEACH has progressed a bit and I'm too lazy to go back and rewrite **EVERYTHING. **However, I hope you enjoy it anyways. I'm having fun writing it. :D

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Chapter 1

Darkness shrouded everything; the rolling hills and cliffs that stretched on in this abyss were only lit by a dim, ominous glow. Even then, the glow didn't permit much perception of anything further than three feet away, at least, for those without reiatsu. The only sounds were those of pain, loneliness, fear, and madness, though they were always distant. It wasn't pleasant to be a person in the abyss, though it was even more unpleasant still to run into another person; it normally meant death to one or both. Despite this, in an area where some hills formed a sort of small bowl in this hell, there was a group that stayed together. Eleven in count, they surrounded a fire, sitting close together and none too happy about it except for the fact that it kept each other warm.

One rose and turned his back to the popping flames. "Fuck this place! And fuck Aizen! I hope Kurosaki killed him!"

"Shut up, Grimmjow, unless you want to fight anybody who finds us."

Grimmjow snorted, "I'm the king. If anybody comes here, I'll kill 'em."

"Just like you killed Kurosaki?"

"Shut up, Nnoitra! You got yourself killed too!"

"Yeah, but at least I wasn't done in by a kid."

"My, my there's a lot of tension here. I hope this doesn't get too ugly; I don't have any changes of clothes on me."

"Shut up, Szayel!" Both shouted, forgetting their own argument for a split instant.

"Sit down, Grimmjow," a passive voice spoke. "You'll be wasting your energy."

"Eh? What are you trying to say about me, Ulquiorra? HUH? I could take on that cat any day!"

"You're a higher rank than him, Nnoitra. You shouldn't pick a fight with him just because he's there."

"I'll pick a fight with whoever I want. I'll even pick a fight with you if you keep talkin'."

Now the two Espada, each with injured pride, yelled at the passive one while the others joined in, trying to get the two to calm down. It was to no avail. As things were about to come to the unsheathing of a katana, a new presence appeared. The pressure of the reiatsu made each of the Espada stop in their tracks. The size wasn't as great as some that they'd encountered but it was one that they'd never felt before and it was considered a possible challenge. The shady figure stepped between two hills that came close together but instead of touching, rose to create a small crack in the "bowl". The intruder crossed his arms over his chest and observed for a moment. A mask covered everything on his face below his eyes as a long cloak floated lazily behind him.

"What have we here?" His voice was raspy and shaky, like a man's who was on the edge of insanity. "The Espada? So it's true; you were all annihilated by those blasted Shinigami."

"Not all of us," the only woman said.

"Oh?" The stranger cocked his head to one side, staring at her with mismatched eyes.

"Sosuke Aizen did this to us."

"Ah yes. Aizen. He was a difficult enemy."

"Was?" Another Espada asked, "Do you mean he's dead?"

The nearly madman laughed. "Dead? No, no, not dead. But just as well."

"What do you mean?"

"He's been sentenced to 20,000 years in the lowest level of the underground prison in Soul Society."

"20,000 years?"

"Yeah, he would've gotten less but he decided to say something smart."

"So Kurosaki didn't kill him then?"

"No, even when he went into his Final Getsuga Tensho, he couldn't kill him. Kisuke Urahara trapped him with Kido when Kurosaki's efforts didn't work and then the battle was over. Cost the ginger his powers but everybody's alive. Well, except for you." He cackled maniacally.

"Kurosaki lost his powers?" The Espada were now all intent on learning the fate of their past enemy.

"Yeah, no more Shinigami powers for him. But he's working on getting them back with the help of some group. 'Xcution' they call themselves."

The Espada sat speechless. Kurosaki Ichigo, former substitute Shinigami, fought against Aizen and lived, even if he did have a little help. It didn't matter that they had been allied with Aizen not too long ago for he had betrayed them, left them to die without so much as a second glance. He even cut down Tier Harribel, the only woman Espada as of the present.

"They should've killed him."

"Should they? Hmm. I'd think that in your present state you wouldn't want them to kill Aizen."

"Why not?" Grimmjow demanded. "That bastard deserves to die!"

"Does he? If I were you I'd want him to suffer. Besides, if he were to die, he'd only come here and who knows what he'd do then."

No response was made; none of them wanted to admit that they hadn't thought of such a possibility.

"But, no matter. I've come to offer you a proposal. I have someone I need—eradicated. They've become a rather large thorn in my side that I can't shake."

"So you want us to do your dirty work for you?" Grimmjow snorted. "Fuck off, bastard."

"Oh, but I think I can persuade you. They'll put up a good fight if you attack them. However," his gaze shifted over to some of the more passive ones of the group, "I know they won't attack those who have no wish to fight them."

"And in return?"

"You get your freedom."

"What do you mean our freedom?" The elderly man in the group sounded dignified and he spoke slightly condescendingly to the stranger. He gestured to their surroundings. "This is Hell, is it not? How do you expect us to get out of here? Sinners can't escape Hell."

"That's true. But even though I may be a sinner myself, I'm not dead yet." He grinned openly to the group he hoped would accept his terms.

All their eyes widened, even the old man's, though his only other reaction was to snort, "Oh? And just how did you get your way in here then?"

"It's easy when all you have to do is kill a human who's committed crimes and not horribly attached to the world. After that, teleportation is cake. And although you may not have my impeccable ability, you have Sonído. I'll escort you out of here. Now, will you help me with my problem or not?"

The old man narrowed his eye, "What happens after we've dealt with this—thorn? I don't want there to be any strings attached to this deal."

"No strings attached, though I have to warn you, this thorn has managed to do a marvelous job of playing dead in the past. My previous partners unfortunately believed it and were soon killed afterwards. As long as you make sure the thorn is truly dead, I won't ask you for your assistance again. You can go back to your palaces in Las Noches." He waved his hand in a gesture of slight dismissal, "I'll give you time to deliberate, but just know I'm not a patient person." He broke off in a chain of laughter that ended in coughing that sounded like it could bring up a lung.

The Espada huddled together, reluctantly. They agreed that this would probably be their only chance but none of them were sure if they could trust a madman. The fact that he was human and had such a great amount of reiatsu was the most troubling thing for them. Zommari, who represented intoxication, suggested that it might be Aizen back to save them from the fate he left them to. Grimmjow and Nnoitra told him to shut-the-fuck-up. It was just one enemy and if they fought together—something they'd never do otherwise—they'd be free. They turned back to the man they were now going to entrust their lives to, to find him pacing, muttering and giggling to himself, rubbing his hands together in glee.

"We will remove this thorn of yours."

The man stopped mid-stride, "Oh, good. I knew you would. Your name is Baraggan, am I correct?"

"Yes. I am the God-King of Hueco Mundo, ruler of Las Noches."

"Ah, yes. That would be why your reiatsu feels familiar. It's good to know that Hueco Mundo will be back in good hands." He spun on his heel to face the crevice he had used to enter the bowl and created a light which floated in his hand from reiatsu. "Come and you will have your freedom."

They followed him over the rocky, barren terrain, only lit by the yellow lava-falls. The man was honest in the fact of saying he wasn't patient as he set a quick pace, though not too quick for them to keep up. Suddenly, he stopped at the edge of a cliff and stared out over a vast sea. The glow from the yellow lava built up in the many craters in the landscape they'd wandered for so long before they found each other didn't reveal much other than this sea was of water rather than of the magma they'd feared. All of them had the same question on their mind, "Why have we stopped?"

"This is one of the exits of the third level of Hell. This one will take us to the second level whereas the other will only take you deeper into this abyss. It would take too long to travel the ocean and it's impossible for me to simply teleport us all out of here and into the human world."

"So you brought us here for nothing?"

"No, we're going to take a short cut. We're going to ask the King of Hell to open a gate for us himself."

"The King of Hell?"

"Yes, just as there is a Soul King and the God-King of Hueco Mundo, there's a King of Hell. It's a hard job, watching over sinners all day. He lives in a palace that can't be seen from any of the five levels of Hell, but overlooks them all so he can see all that occurs."

"And how do you expect to find an unseen castle?"

"Like this." The man spread his arms wide on either side of him and began speaking in a language which couldn't be naturally spoken by a human tongue. It sounded raspy and guttural at the same; the rasps coming out as whispers that sent chills along the Espadas' backs; the sounds from deep in his throat seeming like they'd bring up his voice box. Fog instantly moved in over the sea and thickened. From the mist came a ship which stopped at the edge of the cliff. It was navigated by a tall skeleton holding a long rod that disappeared in the fog it used for steering. The skeleton moved a hand and a ramp thudded to the ground at the man's feet.

"Thank you," the man said nodding to the driver of the boat. The bone-man returned the gesture and waited for the rest of the passengers to board. The driver pushed off with the rod and they were flying over a landscape that remained unseen because of the fog. The Espada got the feeling they were traveling much faster than it felt. The boat never rocked but they could feel a breeze on their faces. The awkward ride, in silence, was luckily short lived when a dock abruptly materialized in front of them. The ramp thudded down again and the passengers descended to the black ground. The man disembarked last after conversing quietly with the driver of the barge who responded in a series of whispers and breathes taken in and pushed out in a speech that sounded like the wind.

"'Le Château du Morte' as someone once called it. Horridly bland name if you ask me. 'Castle of Death'? Really? Just because the name's in French doesn't mean it's cooler." He shook his head and looked up at the ebony spires towering over them. "It may look intimidating but it's only so if you're on trial for your sins. That stairwell will wind its way to the main courtyard. Stick with me or else."

Grimmjow crossed his arms and scowled at the man who he felt was trying to command the "king". "Or else what?" He challenged.

"Or else you'll get lost and the guards of this palace have been known to have a little bit of fun with those they find wandering."

The staircase wound its way up to the courtyard made of obsidian which glittered in the light from the braziers all along the surrounding black walls. There was a pair of standing skeletons on each wall, clad in black armor and ragged capes which looked to have been eaten by moths. Fountains made from black rock poured sparkling water, taunting the thirsts of the Espada. However, something felt wrong about it. Their guide glided past the pools of water without so much as a glance to a pair of doors that led inside. His stride quickened once they set foot in the halls.

These were also lit by braziers but now the walls were a deep red and the floor was black marble. Their steps were muffled by red carpeting which ran in the middle of the hallways, complimenting the wall color. Here, the fires were brighter and there were no armored skeletons as paintings, sculptures, pottery, and weapons took their place. The paintings were dark and often grotesque, depicting mythical hunting scenes and creatures from around the world. The sculptures were often of people in agony or fear or of angels with ebony wings and large swords. The same for both appeared on the pottery pieces sitting on pedestals. Swords, guns, knives, whips, maces, so on and so forth, also adorned pedestals. The swords held a sinister smell and shimmer on their blades and many still had blood and gore on them; a couple had white chunks ground into the blade which could only be bits of bone.

Before too long, they came to a pair of massive doors with two hooded angels facing each other, one carved onto each door, with a great sword in their hands and their wings extended majestically behind them. The man spun to face them and pulled out 11 bracelets made of bones from inside his pockets. He held one up for the Espada to observe suspiciously.

"I must ask for each of you to put these on. It's so the guards on the other side of these doors won't attack you for leaving with me. It basically will make your reiatsu seem to be that of a human. "

Baraggan wasn't convinced. "If it's supposed to keep the guards off us why didn't you give them to us before?"

"Because if the Hell's Wills had smelled human reiatsu while we were outside they would've eaten you and you would've been permanently attached here. Technically you are, but the king can remove anyone's chains with a snap of his fingers. The guards in here aren't Hell's Wills but that just means that they're worse. After all, this is the throne room."

Baraggan's brows furrowed, "So we put these on and they won't attack us when our chains are removed?"

"Yes." He handed them out to each Espada. "Oh, almost forgot to tell you. When you put these on, it'll give you a feeling that you can't use your reiatsu. It's natural but not true. Just don't test it or the guards will attack us anyway."

Once all the Espada had on their bracelets, the man knocked on the doors then took a few steps back, gesturing for the others to do the same. The doors pushed open towards them as if on their own accord. But it was soon revealed it was the work of two guards, both 8 feet tall dressed in gold armor and hooded cloaks-black on the outside, blood red on the inside. Their hoods hid their faces, but the rasping from inside them sounded like those of the wraith-like speech the man had used. They stepped inside and the guards shut the doors behind them from the outside. The throne room was brighter than the halls, lit by braziers which had a floating ball of lava above them. The floors and the walls were the same and the same red carpet, led to a dais upon which was a black throne inlaid with jewels and gold trim.

A black throne which was empty.

The man halted, observing the entire room. A guard stood in each corner, including two on either side of the throne. But the King was nowhere to be found. There were empty tables by the doorway, for feasts it was to be assumed, but what guests a King of Hell would have wasn't a thought that any one of them really wanted to have. The group inched forward cautiously.

"Your majesty?" The man called nervously.

A white light flashed and a voice boomed with such force it brought the group to its knees, "It seems you've chosen to hide behind Hollows now, craven. The King of Hell doesn't accept cravens into his hall."

As soon as the light had taken up the entire room, it was gone but the voice's power still reverberated throughout the room. The Espada blinked, trying to get their eyes to adjust to see who, or what, was the cause of the light. Finally when they could see again they were forced to wipe away tears that came from the harmful brightness. The man was already back on his feet, even though his legs were shaking horribly. A small figure was coming closer from the right side of the room where a door led elsewhere in the palace, probably the King's own chambers. The newcomer was garbed in loose tan clothing; with a black mask that covered a little more of his or her face than the guide's and wrapping around their head to hide its hair. The figure stopped a good distance away from them, crossed its arms over its chest and leaned on one leg.

"You," the man spat.

"Yes, me," the soft voice was that of a young woman's. Her golden eyes—which seemed to draw in the light from around the room and were made brighter—looked him up and down as a predator would its prey. "You're shaking; perhaps you'd like a chair?" She gestured to the benches at the tables.

"Go to hell, you bitch!"

"Ooh, not very friendly. And as you can see, I technically already have."

"You were always such a smart ass. Always thought you were so witty and clever, always making jokes in the middle of a fight trying to get your opponent to flip out and lose control of themselves. Well you can't do that to me. I don't know what other people see in you but I won't be defeated by you."

The girl snorted, "I see you're still as arrogant as always, Dragis."

The man cackled madly, "_I'm _arrogant?"

She ignored him and looked at the Espada, still on their knees. "You've grown desperate, Dragis, to resort to finding the Espada." She shook her head. "You never did fight me one on one. Tell me, do I scare you?"

"You could never scare me. I'm not afraid of a little girl-"

"You can stand up, Espada. There's no reason for me to harm you."

"Hey! I'm talking to you!"

"SIIIIIILEEEEEEENCE!"

The new voice belonged to a being who was taller than his guards. The King was 9 feet tall, and his every step shook the floor. He strode up to the dais and sat on his throne. His black hair hung to his shoulders which had metal spikes sticking out of his thin armor as the clothing was of a tight fit to form the muscles beneath. His eyes were cold and full of menace as he stared at Dragis who was back on his knees. The only one who wasn't on their knees was the girl who calmly watched everything. Even the guards were on their knees, with their heads bowed in respect for their majesty.

"Y-your majesty, I called for you but you weren't here."

"No, I was here. I was simply on the other side of that door," he pointed to the one he just entered from. "I wanted to see how much you'd changed since you last came. Apparently not much."

Dragis rose and bowed formally to the King. "I was hoping you'd be so kind as to open the gate for me and my friends." The girl snickered. "What are you laughing at?"

"Friends? They would've killed you if you hadn't offered to get them out of here. After what Aizen did to them, they've learned not to trust anyone except themselves. You're nothing to them other than a key out of here. Besides, do you still need the gate opened when your 'thorn' is right here?"

Dragis's mouth dropped and he struggled to find an answer. "H-how did you-"

"Know you called me that? Oh please, Dragis. You should know by now that there isn't much that escapes me. I watched your approach. I was the one that drove the boat for you. Didn't you notice? I guess not from the stupid look on your face."

"You lie! You lie, you stupid skank."

"ENOUGH! I will not have this commotion in my throne room. And I especially will not have you calling her such names," the King's rumbling voice was loud enough to sound like a rock slide.

"Forgive me, your Grace. I forgot myself."

"Pfft," was the girl's response to such.

"You really should keep your mouth shut, girl. It's no way for you to respect your betters by being rude to—them," his hesitation caused by her presence.

The Espada were amazed. It happened too fast for them to see what happened. There wasn't a glitch in the air like a Sonído or a Shunpo. She was just where she had been and then she was in front of Dragis. They had no idea how someone could be that fast. One thing which troubled them was that they couldn't feel this girl's reiatsu and hadn't been able to since she appeared. What was she? The girl raised a fist and looked like she was going to punch the man but instead; she tapped the air in front of his face with a knuckle, causing him to become immediately stiff. She grabbed his mask by the part covering his nose and yanked. The cloth littered the floor to show his face.

His entire jaw was burned to the point there was nothing left but muscle, tendon, and teeth which were all visible. Even his throat was burned, which explained why his voice was the way it was. Dragis stumbled away from her. She made no movements to pursue him. Just stood there with an odd look on her face; it was a cross between pain and something else they couldn't recognize.

"Stay back! Stay back!"

"Did you forget what I did to you last time, Dragis?"

He touched his throat carefully, "How could I forget this, bitch!"

"NAME CALLING!" the King thundered.

"Sorry, your Grace."

"If you'd leave me alone and stop your foolishness I wouldn't have a reason to hurt you, dear Dragis."

"Don't call me 'dear'. And I'll do as I wish. I'm a necromancer, bringing the dead back to life is part of my job."

She shook her head again. "I'm not talking about bringing these Espada back. I'm talking about slaughtering countless people for no reason other than to kill. It's time you put an end to this madness."

Dragis through back his head and let his laughter ring across the marble and stone walls. "You'd know all about madness wouldn't you. After all, they say you like it here in hell. Still running from mother dearest, are we?"

Her mouth tightened into a thin line and her eyes narrowed yet she said nothing.

"Ha! It seems I've touched a nerve. That's still a rather sensitive subject I see."

"Enough of this!" The King shifted in his chair and turned to the girl. "If you're not going to finish him, I am. He's in my court and I'll pass judgment if you don't."

"I'm no god. I have no right to pass him judgment."

"So be it. Good-bye, Dragis." He snapped his fingers and his guards were upon the man in question. When they stepped back, Dragis hung in their circle by chains embedded in his skin, held by the guards' strong hands. They let him fall as his body began to distort itself, bubbling out and becoming larger as he screamed. The girl closed her eyes turned her head as the blood curdling sounds escaped what used to be Dragis's lips. When the transformation was complete, all that remained was a hulking creature with bulging veins, and a torso which was disproportional to the rest of the body. The head was too small for the massive body and the legs still those of the original madman. Its breath was ragged and labored as it sat on its hands and knees. The chains dangled off of it and jingled with his every movement.

It raised its head at last, noticed the Espada and roared. The sound was close to Grimmjow's shockwaves during his Resurrección as to the force that it produced. The what-was-Dragis charged. Grimmjow, Nnoitra and Aaroniero drew their weapons, Yammy prepared to use Bala in defense while the others stood their ground. Before they could do anything, she appeared in front of them with a hand outstretched towards the beast who howled in rage.

"Stop," she commanded in the same wraithlike voice that Dragis had used when calling for the barge. The sound of it was hypnotic, the beast stopped inches before her and bowed its head as a beast might to its master. She stroked his head. "Shhh, be still. Calm yourself. There is no need for more blood. Rest." The creature lay down at her feet and breathed deeply.

"Guards, get that thing out of here." Once the beast had been dragged off, he looked to the armed Hollows, "Espada, if that's what you brats call yourselves, put your weapons away. I won't have my throne room trashed because some stupid prisoner scared you."

"We're no brats!" Grimmjow had put his katana away at least but he still looked ready to punch something. "It's your own fault for letting those guards drop him."

"Shut up, Grimmjow."

"Don't tell me what to do, Ulquiorra!"

"It's _my_ fault you say? Maybe it was. And maybe it'll be my fault that your brains will decorate my walls in a few seconds," the King leaned forward in intimidation.

"Go ahead and try I dare ya."

"Father, please."

Grimmjow blinked when the girl's voice intervened. Somebody was standing up for him, just like Ichigo had after defeating him against Nnoitra. The Espada were also confused. She'd called him father.

"They just want to go home."

"Well they're not going to get to if they keep behaving like brats. They're dead anyway, they deserve to be here chained as they are."

"Will you not show them the same compassion you showed me?"

"They're not helpless, or human."

"They used to be and it's not their fault they're here. They have Aizen to blame for that. Just let them go. If they deserve to be here they'll come back, won't they?"

"Why are you standing up for them?"

"Because they've been put through enough already, they deserve a chance to obtain the revenge they desire."

"And you plan to help them get this revenge, I suppose?"

"No, it's not my help they'd need should they need help at all. Aizen may be in prison but that doesn't mean he will be forever. They can get ready for him to either escape or break into Soul Society to kill him themselves."

The King looked back at the Espada who were now entirely curious as to who this girl was who was faster than anyone they'd ever seen, called the King of Hell "father", protected them from the beast that was Dragis, and stood up for them when they were planning on killing her. "It seems that I'll be opening a gate for you to get out of here. The next time you come back here, you'll be here to stay. Got that?"

"We'll make sure to make our stay as long as possible then, this place is dreadfully ugly," Szayel said with a toss of his pink hair.

"Shut up, you pussy," Grimmjow and Nnoitra told him.

"Girl," Baraggan nodded his head in her direction. She turned to face them.

"Hmm?"

"What's your name?"

"Which do you want to know?"

"What do you mean?"

"You can call me Mizuki."

"Mizuki?"

"It's not my real name but it'll do."

"One more question."

"Shoot."

"What are you?"

Mizuki laughed, it was a clear sound which wasn't at all creepy like the rest of the place was. She was like a beacon in the darkness promising them a way out. "I'm a lot of things." She paused then a smile touched her eyes, "Crazy being one of them." She giggled. "The other things, I can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"Why not? Because then I wouldn't be as much of a mystery to you." She glided up to them in long, graceful strides that looked like they could belong to a cat. She reached out her hand towards Baraggan's wrist then stopped an inch away. "May I?"

He nodded and she grasped the bracelet and broke it off. The other Espada anxiously looked at the guards who remained dormant at their stations. She went around to each of the Espada doing the same thing, gathering up the pieces.

"The guards aren't attacking?"

"They won't unless I give the command to," the King's voice sounded bored.

"Dragis lied to you. These bracelets inhibit your reiatsu so you can't use it unless he lets you. He'd let you use your powers against me and then he would've enslaved you to entertain him in whatever way he wished. I watched your approach the entire way here and I told the Hell's Wills to keep their distance, knowing that you'd come to kill me. Whether you still wish to do so is up to you."

Baraggan raised an eyebrow, "You don't care."

Mizuki shrugged, "Not much but you'd just be wasting your energy." She turned to the King. "Open it for them, please."

"You're not coming?"

"Nah, you'd get bored of me fast. And I'm sure that you can find your own way home. You aren't stupid." She skipped up to the throne and sat crossed legged at the King's feet.

The King snapped his fingers and an opening which looked similar to a Garganta except lined in blue flames opened to reveal the human world. The King snapped again and their chains fell to the ground, disappearing. Happy freedom was finally theirs, they jumped through.


	2. Espada and Shinigami Meet Again

Chapter 2

In Karakura Town, Ichigo Kurosaki was eating with his family. Yuzu had made all their favorites with the excuse that it had been a while since they got to eat like a family. His dad was being as weird as usual, Karin being rather quiet though Ichigo understood that considering she had been sort of his substitute of being the only one of the children that could see ghosts until he got his powers back. It was good to be a family again and finally relax for a bit. He was eating his curry when he felt it.

**FOOM**

It couldn't be, not this reiatsu. It was far away; maybe his senses were messing with him. After all, being betrayed by the members of Xcution had made him on edge, even if that had been almost a year and a half ago. He looked at Karin to see her eyes had widened. She'd felt it too. He touched her foot with his and when she looked at him he gave her an encouraging nod to show everything was ok. She smiled at him. How many times had his sisters been in danger? Too many times, he told himself. He wanted them to be safe more than anything. Rukia and Renji might be able to handle it but he should go check it out himself.

He got up from the table and pushed in his chair.

Yuzu was upset that he was leaving, "Onii-chan, you haven't finished your food. Are you ok?"

"Yea, I'm just tired. Thank you for the food, Yuzu, it was really good." He touched her on the head affectionately before going upstairs.

He closed his bedroom door behind him. "Kon."

"Don't tell me you're gonna swallow me again," the plush lion sat on his bed with his stuffed arms crossed.

"No but I want you to keep an eye out and stay here."

"Ok!" He saluted Ichigo. "You can count on me."

"Good." Ichigo pulled out his combat pass and pressed it to his chest to bring his soul out of his body. He picked up his body and put it on his bed so he'd appear to be asleep. Then he jumped out of his window and leapt from house to house to find the source of the reiatsu. It had felt so familiar but he knew it was impossible for it to be who it felt like.

"Ichigo!"

He stopped and turned to see who had called him. "Rukia."

"You felt it too it seems."

"Yea, but you don't think it's really him do you?"

"I wasn't there when you fought him, Ichigo. We don't know if he truly died but we should check it out anyway."

"Right. Let's go." And they ran together.

The reiatsu had come from close to the river so that's where the duo headed. When they arrived, the waters were calm. The moon's reflection glimmered on the surface of the river that flowed underneath the quiet bridge. Nobody was there but them. A group of people was running toward them on the sidewalk.

"Kurosaki-kun!" The girl's orange hair flowed out behind her as she ran to his side.

"Inoue?"

"I thought you'd be here."

"Kurosaki," a black haired boy with glasses joined them.

"Ishida."

"Ichigo," the deep voice belonged to Chad whose bangs still covered his left eye.

"Good, we're all here," Rukia commented. "Now we can figure out what the source of that reiatsu was."

"He's right here." Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, rank 6 Espada, stepped out from under the bridge along with his companions. "Long time no see, Shinigami."

"You're all alive? But I watched you die."

"Someone was kind enough to give us a second chance. I knew you'd come if I released a bit of reiatsu. You just can't wait to fight can you?"

"You want to get beaten again, Grimmjow?"

"You can't beat the King."

"Ha, if that's the case then _he's_ the King, Grimmjow."

"Shaddup, Nnoitra!"

"Oh? What are you gonna do to me, huh? Remember whose number 5, sexta Espada."

"We didn't come here to fight you, Kurosaki," Tier said over the two squabbling fight-lovers.

"Then why are you here?" Ishida asked, fixing his glasses with his forefinger.

"We want to kill Aizen. We can't get into Soul Society ourselves."

"And you expect us to take you there?" Ichigo was ready to pull out Zangetsu at any moment. Especially if Grimmjow was there.

"We know you'll probably say no, but we wanted to see how much you've grown before we went back to Hueco Mundo. I heard you lost your powers, Shinigami." Grimmjow had finally stepped away from Nnoitra. "It's good to see you finally got 'em back. I bet you still put up a good fight."

Newcomers landed behind Ichigo's group. "Good to see you've come, Shinji."

"We just wanted to see what the fuss was about is all."

Ichigo semi-glared at the blue-haired man across from him, "Well, now you've seen me. Go back to Hueco Mundo."

"Are you tellin' me what to do, Shinigami?"

"Enough," Baraggan intervened. "She didn't let us go to shed this boy's blood. Hueco Mundo awaits us. We should go back and fix Las Noches."

"She? Who's she?"

"Nobody you know, Shinigami," Grimmjow snapped in an almost protective manner. He turned to the old man, "I don't care about Las Noches. You guys can go back on your own. I wanna train with the Shinigami."

"Hey! What do you mean train with me? I never offered to help you."

"Training means we fight so we both get better, Shinigami."

"I believe that's called sparring partners; I already have one," he thrust his thumb in Ishida's direction, who fixed his glasses. "And quit calling me 'Shinigami'!"

"Fine," Baraggan interrupted again, "I'm going to Las Noches, and those who want to come with me are welcome. All those who want to stay here and train with the Shinigami, go with Grimmjow." He snapped and a Garganta opened. "Make your choice now."

"I miss my beautiful lab and I need a change of clothes," Szayel flipped his pink hair. "Perhaps I'll come back for test subjects later." He stepped through the Garganta.

Zommari went through next, saying something along the lines of "I have to fix my pride". Starrk went next with Lilynette, proclaiming that he was done with fighting until the time came. Aaroniero went, too, along with Yammy. When Baraggan saw that that was all, he stepped through and the Garganta closed. The remaining Espada were Ulquiorra, Grimmjow, Nnoitra, and Tier. Ichigo's group and the Visored watched them anxiously. Grimmjow walked straight up to Ichigo and put an arm around his neck.

"So, _Ichigo_, got any place we can stay?"

"Not with me. Now get your arm off me!"

"Well, then where do you expect us to stay, huh?"

"Come on, I have an idea."

* * *

"I see. You want revenge on Aizen." Urahara sipped his tea. The Visored leaned against the walls while Ichigo's group and the Espada sat around Urahara's table in his shop. "You're going to need gigais if you're going to be wandering around town."

"Gigais?"

"Yes, they are a fake body that your body can inhabit so you can be seen by humans."

"We don't need to be seen by humans." Ulquiorra's voice sounded bored whenever he talked, now more than ever.

"Not while you're training, no. But humans don't like seeing things floating or objects crashing around for no reason."

"Then we won't go near humans. We don't need any stinkin' gigais," Grimmjow was getting ready to get up but Ichigo grabbed him.

"You're going to wear a gigai as long as you're here in Karakura Town, got it?"

Grimmjow glared at the orange-haired kid before snorting, "Fine, whatever. I guess we'll need gigais."

"Excellent. I'll get you each one right away. You might want to think about where you'll stay for the night." He clopped off in his clogs to another room somewhere in the back of the shop.

"Ahhh, Harribel-san," Orihime's voice was tentative and soft.

"Yes?"

"You can stay at my house, if you'd like."

"I'd appreciate it, thank you…"

"Orihime, I'm Orihime Inoue."

"Orihime."

Grimmjow looked at Ichigo, "You know where I'm staying."

"Anywhere but my house."

"Aww, come on. I'll try not to blow up the house."

"That doesn't comfort me at all, Grimmjow."

"Why? Cause you've got sisters? I'm not gonna hurt 'em. It's just you I'm gonna hurt."

"My dad wouldn't let you in, not unless you've got a good sob story."

"I'll have to come up with one then." He began suggesting stories to Ichigo, each of which he turned down angrily. That, of course, only caused Grimmjow to accuse him of trying to keep him out.

"Orihime?"

"Yes, Ulquiorra-san?"

"Do you mind if I stay with you also? I want to learn about humans from you."

Orihime smiled, "I don't mind. It'll be nice to finally have some company."

Nnoitra grinned to himself when he heard that but said nothing. But he was extremely tempted to. Urahara came back with four gigai. He taught them how to get in and out of their gigai and had them do just that a few times to see they got the hang of it.

"Excellent. Have you all gotten places to stay?"

"Oi, you have a training ground under here don't ya?" Nnoitra leaned in Urahara's direction which was slightly intimidating considering how tall he was.

Urahara covered his mouth with his hand fan, "Possibly."

"If I'm gonna sleep anywhere I want it to be there. I wanna be ready for when we start training."

"Then you're welcome to it," the blonde shopkeeper told him, looking at him from under the brim of his striped hat. "Well, everyone I think it's time to go home and get ready for a new day. Especially you, Kurosaki-san. You all have school tomorrow."

Grimmjow laughed at that and Ichigo told him to shut up. Tessai showed Nnoitra to the hatch in the back of the shop that led the training ground below while Ichigo's group went home. Orihime waved good night to everyone then went in the direction of her apartment followed by Tier and Ulquiorra who were now in their gigais. Ishida and Chad bade their farewells as well before departing. Grimmjow and Ichigo were the last to leave, mainly because they kept throwing insults at each other but eventually Ichigo just stuffed his hands into his jeans pockets and started stomping towards his house. Grimmjow commented that he looked ridiculous and like an angry toddler before following the orange-haired teen.

After they disappeared around the corner of the street in front of Urahara's shop, Shinji leaned close to the man who had saved his, and the rest of the Visoreds' lives. "Do you think we can really trust them?"

"Probably not. I don't doubt that they do intend to try to kill Aizen but we should keep an eye on them. Mainly Nnoitra Gilga and Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez because of their personalities. I don't believe Tier Harribel will do anything to harm Inoue-san."

"We'll stick around Ichigo and his friends then. We don't know if or when the other Espada will come back."

"Indeed. I'll leave you and the rest of the Visored to it."

* * *

"URGENT CAPTAINS' MEETING! REPEAT: URGENT CAPTAINS' MEETING!"

"Captain, did you hear that?"

"Huh?"

"Get up, Captain! This is no time to be napping!"

"I'm up! I'm up!"

"Well get up faster!"

Shunsui Kyoraku, 8th squad Captain, rose and fixed his straw hat. His lieutenant, Nanao Ise stood by the window, looking out between the shutters on the sunny day in Seireitei, with a worried expression on her face. It was unfortunate, he told himself, that a pretty girl such as her didn't smile much.

"You look grave, Nanao-chan."

"What do you think the meeting is about?"

"I don't know but that's why I'm going isn't it?"

"You should've been gone already."

"All right! I'm leaving."

He ran, occasionally using Shunpo to get to the meeting. Soon he was greeted by his longtime friend Jushiro Ukitake who ran at his side in contemplative silence. They arrived in the 1st division's headquarters where Genryūsai Yamamoto, Captain-Commander of Seireitei, was waiting for them and the other captains. Kyoraku and Ukitake took their places in the line-up of captains, watching as one after another came in and took their place in the double lines that faced each other before the Captain-Commander. When all of the Captains were in their places and the doors were shut, Captain Yamamoto spoke from his chair.

"Kurotsuchi, tell us what your lab picked up in Karakura Town."

The Captain of the 12th division, Mayuri Kurotsuchi stepped forward. His face was framed by his hair that was shaped into a pair of blue horns that sloped down from the top of his head so from the front it appeared as a blue frill. There was a golden frame around his face that came out at his chin to look like an Egyptian Pharaoh beard. A black cross made out of paint down the center of his face covered everything but his nose and a small portion of his lower chin. All in all, one of the creepiest looking Captains that there was.

"Our scanners picked up the reiatsu of 11 Espada." The other Captains displayed their shock; even Byakuya Kuchiki went as far as to open his eyes wide in surprise. "There was a burst of one Espada's reiatsu and shortly after 6 of the Espadas' reiatsu simply vanished. There were no signs of battle but we don't know their goal as of yet. I personally would very much like to know how they came back. I hope I get my hands on one to perform tests on before they're killed again. It would be a most interesting study."

"Kurotsuchi, continue monitoring the Espadas' movements. Zaraki, Hitsugaya, and Kuchiki, go with your lieutenants to keep an eye on these Espada and help the Substitute Shinigami."

* * *

"Oi, Ichigo."

"Leave me alone for God's sake, Grimmjow."

"I was just wondering about something."

"That's great you can keep wondering."

"Are you butt-hurt that your dad let me stay here?"

"Maybe."

"Well, I'm gonna ask the question anyway. How would a human get into Hell when they're still alive?"

"What do you mean?"

"There was a guy in Hell who led us partially out. He said he was alive and he didn't have chains so we believed him. His reiatsu was human even."

Ichigo was finally interested so he turned to the blue-haired Espada sitting on the other end of the couch that he was. "He only led you out partially?"

Grimmjow shifted his gaze uncomfortable where the subject was going. "Yea."

"You're hiding something. Who got you out the rest of the way?"

"If you really want to know you have to hear the whole story."

Ichigo listened as Grimmjow relented and spilled everything, from Dragis offering his deal to them waiting under the bridge for Ichigo and his friends to get there. There was something odd in Grimmjow's voice when he spoke about Mizuki but Ichigo dismissed it thinking it might be too personal to ask about it. He and Grimmjow might've known each other well since they'd fought several times but that didn't make them best buds. In the end, Ichigo was just as confused about the girl as the rest of the Espada had been. He had been to Hell not to long after his fight with Aizen, before he had lost his powers, so he knew what Hell looked like but he'd never heard of the King of Hell. He voiced his confusion.

"I hadn't either," Grimmjow replied, stretching out his legs. "He was real though, just like the girl was. I don't know what she was but she didn't have chains either so I figured that she was human like Dragis was."

"You never saw her face though?"

Grimmjow shook his head, "But if it looked anything like Dragis's, I think I would've passed on seeing that."

"Maybe she'll turn up. If she helped you once she might help you again."

"Yea, but it's not like I could yell, 'Hey, Mizuki chick! Would you mind helpin' us out again?'"

"Well if you didn't call her a chick she might be more inclined to answer," Rukia's voice made them both jump. They'd both nearly forgotten she was in the room. "If it's true that is watching you, then maybe she'll be somewhere nearby. We can look around tomorrow night."

"ONII-CHAN!"

"What is it, Yuzu?"

"Don't stay up too late, you have school tomorrow."

"So do you. Shouldn't you be in bed already?"

Yuzu blushed, "Just make sure you get enough sleep." And with that, she ran up the stairs to her room.

"How sweet. 'Onii-chan'."

"Shut up!" Ichigo punched him in the arm.

"All right! That was supposed to be fairly nice. It's nice to have someone who cares about you."

Ichigo's eyes widened, "Grimmjow?"

"Don't you dare comment on that, Fruity!"

"What'd you call me?"

"Enough of this you two!" When the two stopped to look up at her, who was behind the couch, she continued. "As I said, we can look for her tomorrow night. Maybe the others would be willing to help."

"Not Nnoitra. He wouldn't care; he just wants to fight."

"He might come," Grimmjow's voice was thoughtful for once. "If he believes her strong enough to fight, he'll look for her to see if she's really worth his time."

"That might work but we should get to sleep, Ichigo."

"Ah. Grimmjow you're staying on this couch."

"What? I can't sleep on your floor and bug you all night?"

"NO!"

"I was just kidding, god."

Rukia walked upstairs to the room that Isshin Kurosaki let her have for her stays. Ichigo followed but stopped with his hand on the wall of the entryway. He looked back at his former, and possibly still, enemy.

"Goodnight, Grimmjow."

Grimmjow was visibly thrown off by the courtesy but said, "Goodnight, Kurosaki."

* * *

"Oi, Ichigo!" A plush foot landed on his head. "Get up, Ichigo!"

"Get off, Kon." Ichigo grabbed the stuffed animal and threw it at the wall where it ricocheted around the room squeaking whenever it hit something, finally coming to a stop on the wood floor.

"You bastard! You'll pay for that!"

Ichigo sat up and stretched, then sat crossed legged not really awake yet. His sister called from downstairs, "Onii-chan! Your breakfast is getting cold!"

Sighing, he dressed and stumbled downstairs, rubbing his eyes. Grimmjow and Rukia were already seated at the table with Karin. He sat down himself and began eating. The food was as good as it always was; Yuzu continually proved herself an excellent cook. Grimmjow was dressed in some clothes that Ichigo had lent him that fit him rather well, except for the pants being slightly too short. Karin kept looking up at Grimmjow from underneath her eyelashes like she was suspicious of him. Ichigo didn't blame her; the reiatsu of the Espadas felt dark compared to that of a Shinigami's.

"Do you go to the same school that Ichi-nii does, Jaegerjaquez-san?"

"Yea, I'm a transfer student," he responded with his story they had made up on the way to Ichigo's house. "And call me Grimmjow."

"Where are you from?"

"A little town called 'Las Noches'," he answered with a grin that revealed his large canines. "It's so unnoticeable it's not on any maps." Ichigo rolled his eyes.

"Really?" Yuzu was already cleaning her dishes she'd eaten so early. "Little towns are so interesting! Were you sad when you left?"

"No, I didn't have any friends there."

"Oh, that's so sad! Stick with Onii-chan; he knows lots of people at school. He's pretty popular."

Ichigo's face started to flush. "I'm not that popular, Yuzu, but thanks."

Rukia stood, pushed in her chair and handed her dishes to an awaiting Yuzu. "Thank you again for the food, Yuzu. Come on, Ichigo, Grimmjow."

The trio arrived at school and met up with the others. Even Tier and Ulquiorra had come. It was still odd to Ichigo to see them like humans, but it was only for a short while so he told himself that it would be ok. Grimmjow surprisingly wasn't annoying during class. He just sat with his chin resting on the palm of his hand watching the lesson. Tier paid attention a little but after a while she started drawing something in her notebook that Orihime had given her. Ulquiorra sat next to a window and continued to stare at the world that he was so unused to. At lunch, they all ate on the roof like they normally did. (Ichigo had to show them how to drink out of their juice boxes.)

"Harribel-san, what were you drawing earlier?" Orihime asked as she munched on one of her newest concoctions.

Tier brought out her notebook and showed the others her sketch. "Mizuki" was written at the bottom. The picture was well done; showing the scraps of cloth wrapped around her head and lower half of her face. Her clothes weren't tight fitting, her top was more like a band t-shirt the way it hung on her small frame, so you couldn't necessarily tell if it was a boy or a girl. Her boots went halfway up her calves and had no laces. Grimmjow and Ulquiorra both said that the drawing looked exactly like her. Ichigo took the portrait from Tier and held it close so he and Rukia, who peered over his shoulder, could study it better. Grimmjow proposed his idea to the other Espada about how they'd get Nnoitra to help them look for her.

"Yes, I believe that would work on him; he's always ready to fight," Tier said after accepting her notebook back. Ulquiorra nodded in agreement.

"I hope she comes," Orihime stared off dreamily, "she sounds so interesting."

"I hope she doesn't turn out to be an enemy," Ishida sounded rather morbid. "From what you've told us she seems extremely dangerous."

Rukia shook her head. "It would seem that she's actually interested in peace. I think we have more reason to fear the King of Hell." The bell rang. "Well, we'll have to discuss this later. Thank you, Harribel, for giving us an idea of what we can look for."

* * *

When at last school was over, instead of heading towards their houses, the group went to Urahara's shop. Nnoitra was probably bored not fighting anything. Grimmjow and Ichigo were tossing jokes at each other back and forth, getting along surprisingly well now that they weren't going all out trying to kill one another. Rukia smiled; those 2 were so alike. Ulquiorra walked with his hands in his pockets with what appeared to be the slightest smile on his face as Orihime jabbered about what crazy food combinations she'd try for dinner. Tier asked Ishida questions about the Quincy; what they fought for, how old the Quincy order was, if he was the last one, etc.

Jinta and Ururu were sweeping outside when the group arrived. Well, more like Ururu was sweeping and Jinta was pretending to play baseball yelling, "JINTA HOMERUN!" When he saw them though, he ran to tell "Boss", returning to tell them they could come in. Waiting for them at the table were Captains Kuchiki and Hitsugaya along with Matsumato and Renji. There was immediate tension when they Shinigami and Espada caught each other's eyes but Urahara bade them to sit down. The Shinigami and Espada made sure to sit as far away from the other at the circle table as possible so they could easily glare at each other. Though, Tier's and Hitsugaya's didn't meet once.

"Where's Nnoitra?" Ichigo hoped to ease the tension but the 2 groups continued to have their glowering match.

Urahara spoke from behind his fan, "Kenpachi Zaraki decided to join him below." The shop shook in response. "They've been training ever since." Hitsugaya shook his head.

"What are you doing here, Nii-sama?" Rukia asked Captain Kuchiki.

"We were assigned here to watch the Espada and assist the Substitute Shinigami if necessary," he answered with closed eyes; he was the only one not glaring at anybody.

"We don't need anybody watching us," Grimmjow growled. The muscles in his arms bulged as his gripped his cushion.

Kuchiki opened his eyes to give him a blank stare, "We don't know that."

Renji, standing behind his Captain next to the wall, leaned forward. "Look, we're not happy about this either but it's what we were told." The shop rattled again and the china on the table clinked.

"Tch, whatever." His blue hair flipped a little as he shifted his attention to Ichigo in annoyance. "Should we join them?"

"We can't get in their way."

"Then I guess we'll just have to watch and wait our turns."

"Not if we're going to look for her," Tier reminded him.

"Her?" Hitsugaya finally looked in Tier's direction. She glanced at the other Espada then at Ichigo and his friends.

"I'll tell them, you try to get Nnoitra," Rukia began relating the story to the Captains and Lieutenants as the others went below.

Clanging of swords welcomed their ears as they climbed down the ladder to the dirt ground. On a fairly large boulder close to the entrance, the Visored sat observing the fight along with the pink-haired Yachiru, Ikkaku Madarame and Yumichika Ayasegawa. The newcomers sat at the base of the boulder and watched the fight in progress. Kenpachi and Nnoitra were both fairly beat up; both having large slashes that blood ran out of across their chests and arms. Nnoitra's Resurrección was released but he only had out 4 of his possible six arms. Kenpachi still had his eye patch on, which could either mean it was good for Nnoitra or bad. Both had huge grins on their faces from the fun they were having beating the heck out of each other.

"Why don't you take off that patch of yours, Zaraki? Show me some of that awesome reiatsu like last time."

"You'll have to make me take it off like last time." He caught sight of Ichigo, "Oi, Ichigo, you're next!"

"Not if I beat you this time around, Zaraki! I won't be as easy to kill."

"Good! I'd like to see how much more interesting this fight can be."

"Don't kill each other! Or we'll have one less person to look for her!" Orihime yelled to them.

"Look for who?" The rivals question was in synch, as were their reactions of confusion.

"Mizuki," Ulquiorra said flatly. (Though, what did he ever not say flatly?)

Nnoitra grinned when their savior's "name" was said. "Are we gonna look tonight?"

"Yes, as long as you don't kill each other first. Then we'll have to go without you."

Kenpachi swung his sword up to rest it on his shoulder, "Why do you want to look for a woman?"

"Because she's strong," Nnoitra told him. Kenpachi smiled as big as his sparring partner.

"How strong?"

"I don't know for sure but she's fast. There's only one way to find out."

"Hmm. If she turns out to be a weakling I'm gonna fight with Ichigo instead of you. It'll be more fun for me."

"Deal." Both sheathed their swords. "Let's go; I want to see if she's worth taking on."

* * *

Oh, Kenpachi and Nnoitra, how I love you both. You crazy men, full of blood lust, you. *sigh*

Anyways, enough of my banter. I hope you all liked this!


	3. We Meet Miyako

This had to be probably the most thought out chapter...so far. I had to drag myself through chapter 2 to get here and then it was over. But now I have the rest of the chapters to look forward to. Awesome. Hope you all enjoy it!

* * *

Chapter 3

For some reason, they decided to search as a group. Partially because Nnoitra and Kenpachi didn't want the other to find Mizuki first so they decided to stick together. That and Kenpachi's tracking skills still hadn't improved (and probably never will) so he said he was going to follow Ichigo—which meant that Nnoitra, of course, came along. Grimmjow had made it his job to bug Ichigo; Orihime wanted to be with him to make sure he was ok—which made Ulquiorra and Tier come along (Tier had asserted herself as Orihime's guardian); Rukia stayed to make sure Grimmjow and Ichigo didn't kill each other; Byakuya said it was their duty to watch the Espada; Matsumato wanted to see how good Mizuki's fashion sense was; Hitsugaya wanted to make sure his lieutenant didn't do anything stupid. The others had their reasons too but I'm sure that you get the picture—they stuck in a huge group, the four Espadas, the Visored, the Shinigami and Ichigo's group. All walking around Karakura Town for one girl.

They meandered over streets, through alleys, scourging the town. Nothing thus far. Kenpachi and Nnoitra were getting restless and bored. They were all pretty much just ready to give up so they walked down a street close to the bridge, making their way back to Urahara's shop. That's when they heard the humming. It was clear and on tune with the music they now heard slightly blaring. It didn't sound like something any of them recognized but the voices were singing in English. The group stood in front of an alley and then they saw her.

"Love is a foreign word, in this prison!" She was dressed in tight jeans, a close fitting t-shirt, and a hat with a skull and the phrase "Courage to Survive" on it. The hat concealed most of her hair but bits of blond flipped out from underneath it. She had blue headphones in her ears and a thick novel in her hand. Her lithe steps and her posture were both immediately familiar to the Espada so they hesitated. They couldn't sense any sort of reiatsu from her. She took one headphone out of her ear and spun the 2 inches of cord that she held in a way that reminded Ichigo of the way his Hollow spun Zangetsu. She scrolled down the list of songs on her music player that she held on top of her book.

"Hello, beautiful."

The headphone stopped spinning. Fear came into the girl's eyes. She didn't turn around but she tilted her head in the stranger's direction just a smidge.

"Can I help you?" The collected voice hit the Espada like a slap.

The man behind her in the shadows laughed. Stepping out, he whispered, "Yes, as a matter of fact, you can."

She spun quickly as he rushed her with a knife. Her right leg came up and spun kicked his wrist to send the knife flying. But his fist was already coming. It slammed into her chest and she hit the wall. She slid down so she was sitting, leaving a trail of blood on the stone behind her. The man shook his wrist.

"Got me good there, princess, but I'm far stronger than you." He inched closer, unzipping his pants. "There's nothing you can do. Nobody's around to hear you scream."

He got close enough and dropped his pants. She swung both her legs, using her feet to hit him just behind the knees so they collapsed on themselves. His legs crumpled and he fell on his side. She jumped to her feet but paused to look at him to see if she had to hit him one more time.

"You'll pay for that, bitch."

She bolted out of the alley, the group that was seemingly invisible to her jumping out of the way. A light pole happened to be there so she grabbed it with one hand and used it to swing herself towards the bridge. The moment her feet re-landed, she was off. Her long legs gave her a stride that looked similar to a gazelle's. The man yelled threats as he tried to get his pants back on but she didn't stop. She flew down the street until she got to the place where Ichigo and Grimmjow had met the night before. She hesitated, not entirely sure which way she should go. Her foot slipped as she was shifting her weight and she tumbled down towards the river. At the last second, she managed to put out her foot and caught herself on the slip of sidewalk that ran parallel to the waters. She pulled herself up and wiped herself off best she could before sprinting off again.

The group struggled to follow her, the Espada in the lead as they used their inhuman speed to their advantage. They found her in the shopping district up against a wall. Her hat was lop-sided, her clothes a mess, blood running down the back of her neck. Her breathing was normal, but her hands shook at her sides. A man approached her; she didn't raise her head.

"Excuse me? I can see you're bleeding. May I take a look at that wound?"

She looked at him from under her hat with a blank gaze. "Are you doctor?"

"Yes, I just got off of my shift at the hospital. Here," he pulled out his ID and showed it to her. Her eyes had trouble focusing on the letters and symbols from the way she squinted them. She gave the card back to him.

She consented and he gently took off her hat to look at her gash. "I got slammed into a wall." The doctor gave her a quizzical look. She shrugged. "I figured you'd ask how I did it."

He took a step back and observed her; she had trouble standing; her eyes couldn't concentrate; she was horribly shaky; and she looked like she was about to drop off to sleep any second. "I believe you have a concussion but that doesn't explain why you're shaking."

"Adrenaline rush; I ran here."

"Not good for your head."

"It was good for the rest of me; I'm still alive."

"I'd like to take you to the hospital."

The girl shook her head and then stopped, blinking in a way that suggested she was in pain and trying desperately to stay awake. "I don't have my credentials with me."

"That doesn't matter; they'll still take care of you."

"They'll keep me too long in a hospital; my friend'll panic," her voice was stern.

"I know of a little clinic nearby. They should be able to help you there. If you trust me to get in the car."

She nodded slowly and he helped her get in the car carefully before hopping in himself and driving as quickly as he could without getting pulled over.

* * *

They pulled in front of the small clinic with the curious group not too far behind. The doctor ran up to the door and knocked furiously. She shakily got out of the car, using the door as leverage to hold herself up as her legs tried to give in beneath her. Isshin Kurosaki and his daughters came out after answering the door and hearing what the matter was. The twins led her inside to a table they had her climb up on so they could clean the wound. She expressed her thanks to the doctor who bowed and said he was happy to help before driving off.

The Kurosaki's bandaged her; Yuzu talking to her attempting to help keep her awake. The girl was nodding off to sleep but every time her head fell, she'd yank it up, fighting her body's urge. She thanked Yuzu when the little girl offered her something to eat. Isshin gave her something to dull the pain and she expressed her gratitude by bowing her head.

"What's your name?" Yuzu's eyes held sparks of innocence and curiosity.

"You can call me Miyako."

"Miyako. That's a pretty name."

"Thank you. I like yours. I don't hear the name 'Yuzu' often."

"You don't?"

Isshin could hear their chatter from inside the house as he filled out some paperwork. The front door opened and shut to issue his orange-haired son and Rukia, who Isshin now considered his sort of adopted daughter, both back in their body and gigai. Him being an ex-Shinigami, he could see the large crowd that now infested his living room but he said nothing. Ichigo was surprised that his dad didn't try to knock him down the moment he set foot in the room.

"We have a patient."

"Oh?" Ichigo tried to play dumb.

"Ah. She might have to stay here for the night. She has a serious concussion."

"Don't go to sleep, Miyako-san!" Yuzu's voice shook the girl awake again.

"Thank you, Kurosaki-san," she smiled at her makeshift alarm.

"Come have dinner with us! Onii-chan is back so we can eat together. It might help you stay awake."

"No, I wouldn't want to impose." But Yuzu was already practically dragging her to the kitchen.

"Onii-chan! This is Miyako."

Miyako bowed, "Pleased to meet you, Kurosaki."

"Nice to meet you, too."

Miyako's phone rang. "Oh, excuse me." She looked at the screen, "It's my friend. She's probably wondering where I am."

Isshin gestured to the hall, "If you'd like to speak alone."

"Thank you."

"Hello?"

"Onii-chan, are you hungry?"

"Yes, thank you, Yuzu."

"How about you, Rukia-chan?"

"Yes, thank you."

"Where the **FUCK** are you?" A metallic voice screeched from the phone's speakers. All conversation and movement in the kitchen immediately froze.

"I'm at the Kurosaki clinic right now."

"Why the **fuck** are you at a clinic?"

"I got hit in the head."

"You got hit? By what?"

"A guy, he was trying to…"

"Did he drop his pants?"

"Yes."

"**FUCKIN' A!**"

"He didn't touch me."

"Then how the hell did you manage to get hit?"

"He punched me in the chest and I hit a wall."

"**THAT COUNTS AS TOUCHING!** What did Mr. Kurosaki say your injuries were?"

"He says I have a serious concussion."

"**Holyshitballs**! Did you walk there?"

"No, a doctor drove me."

"Well, you better get a ride back to the hotel. I don't want you out there getting fucked up again. We shouldn't have come to Japan in the first place."

"No, coming to Japan was a great idea. I was just stupid and didn't watch where I was going."

"Too busy being a nerd and reading again to look up and see where you were?"

"Actually I think I dropped my book and my mp3 player in the alley."

"Oh that's cool. We're going to get the earliest plane out of here."

"No! I love it here. The people are a lot nicer than they are back there. And we still have so much to see."

"Fine, but you're not leaving the hotel without me starting once you get back."

"Ok."

"Swear it."

"I promise."

"Good. Now get your ass back here; I don't have a car to come get you."

"I know, I'll see if I can take a bus."

"**NO!** You're going to get a fucking ride to the hotel from somebody, got it?"

"Ok."

"You don't have to talk to me like that."

"I wasn't trying to sound rude. I'm sorry I can't control when I get a concussion and don't know how I'm talking."

"Quit being a smartass."

"I wasn't being a smartass."

"Whatever just get back here." The phone went back to the dial tone and Miyako heaved a sigh. The house was still.

Isshin looked into the hallway and found Miyako sitting on the bottom step. "I can drive you to the hotel."

"Thank you, Kurosaki-san. I'd appreciate it."

"Here," he handed her his car keys, "go ahead and get in the car. I'll get you some medication to take with you."

"Thank you, for everything."

"No problem. It's my job." He smiled and went to grab the supplies.

Miyako rose slowly to her feet and stood in the doorway. Yuzu looked at her sadly while her siblings tried to look at anything but her eyes. Nobody wants to be yelled at on the phone in a stranger's house and have the entire conversation heard.

"Thank you for the help, Yuzu, Karin. It was a pleasure to meet you." She looked at Ichigo who had finally met her gaze, "Take care of yourselves." Her eyes scanned over the Espada and the others in the room as if to say the message was for them as well. The twins saw the glance.

"Miyako-san!" Yuzu called just as Miyako was turning to leave.

"Hmm?" She waited with her hand on the entranceway, facing the door.

"You can see them, can't you? You can see the ghosts like Karin and Onii-chan."

Miyako's eyes widened and she finally faced the entire room again. "Yes, for as long as I can remember."

"Aww, everybody can see them but me! I can only see their outline. Can _she _see ghosts too?"

"Who?"

"The lady who yelled at you on the phone."

"Oh, that was Riley. We've been friends since 8th grade. No she can't see ghosts. She doesn't believe in them. Just as much as she doesn't believe in a filter to clean up her language."

"She's your friend?" Yuzu's mouth was nearly on the floor.

"She can be mean sometimes but I'm used to it. She's just worried." When Yuzu's expression didn't change, she added, "Don't worry I have more friends than just her."

"Oh, that's good. You said you dropped your book?"

Miyako looked down at her hand that had held it. "Yea, I'll probably go looking for it tomorrow."

"But your friend made you promise to not leave without her."

"And I won't. I'll just convince her she _really_ wants to check out something near where I was and I'll casually check and see if my stuff's there." Miyako checked the time on her phone. "I really should go or I'll lose my ear for this." She bowed to the room. "Thank you again. Goodnight, Kurosakis."

* * *

"Explain to me again why we're all in MY room."

"Quit complainin', Kurosaki. Let's just think about this."

"We should keep an eye on this 'Miyako'. We don't know yet if it really is her."

"Well if her friend's here in town with her then we should see them again soon."

"We'll just have to keep our eyes peeled then."

"All right, now that we've established that,** CAN YOU ALL GET OUT OF HERE**!"

"Ichigo, you should really keep your voice down or your family will hear you."

"Oh, right."

* * *

"Ichi-GO!" They were sitting on the roof eating lunch with the Espada again. Keigo Asano's voice made the entire group raise their heads. Keigo was standing in the doorway to the stairs.

"What is it, Keigo?"

"Look who I found!" He stepped outside with a girl on each of his arms. One had black hair and dark makeup, the other was Miyako. "Two beautiful foreign exchange students! They're only here for a couple weeks or so, so I wanted to have them meet as many people here as possible so they don't feel alone."

Miyako bowed to the group and spoke in Japanese, "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Her friend simply stood there, "What's up?"

"You'll have to forgive her; she's American."

"Hey! You're American too, dumbass. Don't think I forgot what the Japanese word for 'American' is."

Miyako shifted back to English, "I may be American but that doesn't mean I can't come here knowing Japanese culture."

"Whatever."

Miyako sighed and shook her head. She grimaced and gently touched the back of her head.

"Oh! Miyako-sama, you shouldn't hurt yourself!" Keigo was all but beside himself. Miyako waved him off.

"It's ok. I'm fine."

"Why don't you join us?" Rukia asked. Clearly the others weren't going to do it. They were too busy noticing how different the two girls were.

Miyako had a slim figure with boobs that only looked big because the rest of her was so small. Her friend was fairly large, both chest wise and the rest of her. Miyako had golden hair with red highlights that was cropped short and flipped out at the ends; her friends came down to just above her shoulders. Miyako and her friend both wore the school's uniform, though Miyako wore pants while her partner wore the skirt with leggings. The blond had smiling eyes; the brunette had a frozen expression of being pissed at something. Rukia made room next to her and Miyako bounced over to sit down.

"By the way, this is Riley."

"Riley Martin," she sat next to Miyako.

"Where in America are you from, Miyako-san?" Rukia attempted to keep the conversation going.

"Arizona," the girls answered together.

"What's it like?" Orihime looked completely enthralled by the visitors.

"It's completely boring. Arizona is part of the desert so the winters are sort and the summers are long and torturous and it hardly ever rains. The weather here is so much nicer. And the people are really nice too. Back home all the people walk with their noses in the air and sway their hips like they're _so_ cool and my peers have no respect for each other."

"That's 'cause there's too many shit-talkers. What the nerd can't tell you is that we have pretty cool malls, bunches of Mexican food restaurants, and awesome skate parks. Oh, and the alcohol isn't too bad either."

Chad's eyes widened, "But isn't it illegal for minors to drink?"

"Yea, so? My parents don't care if I drink, just as long as I don't get drunk. Though, the nerd here can't tell you she's tried anything."

"I could."

"You'd be lying."

"No I wouldn't. Not that I need to prove it to you," she turned back to the others, reverting back to Japanese. "Disregard whatever she just said about American stuff being 'not too bad'. My uncle tells me it's disgusting and I've smelled that stuff; it's gross."

"Like you've ever tried it."

"He let me have some to show me what it was like. I was immediately turned off to American beer after that."

Riley rolled her eyes. "What else do you want to know?"

The conversation continued until the bell and the group separated since the girls weren't in their class. Miyako waved to them as she matched her long stride to Riley's smaller one. The Espada couldn't ask any of the questions that they'd wanted to with Keigo and Riley there so they were anxious for school to be over. They were sure by now that Miyako was Mizuki, though they didn't understand why her eyes were now a bright blue instead of the golden they had been before. Her voice, gait and height were all the same. How were they supposed to ask if it was her?

* * *

"Miyako-san!" The blond halted at the school's gates and looked for the source of the voice. Orihime waved to her. Riley was deep in conversation with a man with dark hair and sunglasses so Miyako walked, almost on the balls of her feet, over to them.

"You rang?" She leaned on one leg and put a hand on her hip.

"Do you know anyone named Mizuki?" Ishida fixed his glasses as he waited for an answer.

"Mizuki? That's a pretty name. I-"

"LOSER!" Miyako whipped her head in Riley's direction. "Come on, we're leaving!"

"I'm sorry. I gotta go or she'll murder me." She grabbed Orihime's arm and flipped a purple pen out of her jean's pocket. She wrote a series of numbers on Orihime's hand and hurried to her friend. "Call me!" She called over her shoulder, with a wave.

* * *

"Are you busy?"

"Nope. What's up, Inoue-san?"

"I was wondering if we could spend some time together. You seem quite nice."

Miyako laughed. "Thank you, you're sweet. Actually, I'm at the ice rink right now if you wanna come and hang out with me. Riley's not here so asking questions can go faster."

"Really? Is it ok if my friends come too?"

"The one's Keigo introduced me and Riley to at lunch? Sure. That would be cool. I'll see you here in a bit then?"

"Yup."

"Alrighty, talk to you soon."

Click.

"Do you think she's really Mizuki, Harribel-san?"

"It would certainly seem to be."

Ichigo rose from Urahara's circular table. "Well, let's go see if she'll answer our questions."

* * *

Miyako was the only one on the ice. She was back into her comfortable clothes; jeans and a t-shirt. She wasn't wearing a jacket or any sort of gloves but she didn't seem to be shivering at all. She was doing all sorts of tricks by herself—spins, jumps and flips—and looked to be having fun too. The entire search party had come again and now Nnoitra and Kenpachi looked ready to attack her at any moment.

Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwww!

Miyako froze mid-spin. The Hollow landed in front of her, cracking the ice in some places where it wasn't as thick. It raised a hand to try and hit her.

"Sokatsui!" A large blue burst of reiatsu slammed into the Hollow and Miyako raced for the rim. She put a hand on the 4 ½ foot wall surrounding the rink and swung both legs over it. She yanked off the straps of the skate on her right foot in one gesture and pulled it off. She lifted her other foot and did the same. She tossed the shoes aside onto a chair and jumped into her own. The smoke cleared around the injured Hollow just as she assumed a fighting stance.

"No way. I felt no reiatsu when she cast that Kido. And she dealt that much damage to it without an incantation. Just what is she?" Hitsugaya's face was etched with shock as they watched the girl standing to defend herself.

"Am I Mizuki?" Miyako called over her shoulder to her audience. "That's what you want to know isn't it?" The Hollow jumped and attempted to hit her again. This time she stopped the fist with her finger. "No. Nor am I Miyako." She reached for her belt where she got a dagger with a blade as long as her forearm, flipped it so she held it by the blade and threw it into the Hollow's mask. The Hollow screamed and disintegrated.

"My name is Jamie Powell. I'm the daughter of two Shinigami: Melissa Powell and an 11th division man who has no name to me. I hope that answers your question."

"So you're the one who saved us from Hell?"

"Saved you? I didn't think of it that way. I thought of it as giving you a second chance. I'm nobody's savior."

"Ooh! I'm glad I came along! Those pants fit you wonderfully." Matsumato ran up to her and looked her over. "I didn't think you'd be so skinny. The sketch that the Espada did made you look like a fat boy."

Jamie threw back her head and laughed. "Well I'm glad my disguises still work."

"So this is who we've been looking for?" Kenpachi eased his sword out of the sheath. "Tell me, are you good at fighting?"

"Depends. How bad do you want to fight me? I'll put as much effort into killing you as you put in for me."

"Excellent. I'll come at you with full force."

"Not if I can help it. I found her first, Zaraki. I want to fight her first."

"Who were you talking to?" A man walked up dressed in dark clothes and stood next to Jamie. "Talking to ghosts again?"

"Maybe. Got a problem with that?"

"No, no, just as long as the ghosts aren't talking to me. Are you ready to go back to the hotel?"

"Actually-"

"Ah, ah, ah. You know what Riley will do when I come back by myself."

"I know but I want to stay out for a little while longer."

"Oh? Do the ghosts want you to play hide-and-seek again?"

"Hey, that was one time and it was a pair of twins that wouldn't pass over until somebody played with them so I did."

The man shook his head and his golden eyes returned to her face. "You're something else."

"You're telling me."

"All right. I guess I'll just follow you around until these ghosts are happy. How many of them are there anyway? Is it a set of quadruplets?"

"No. It doesn't matter how many ghosts there are."

"Oh, I almost forgot. I have a couple surprises for you."

"Surprises?"

"Yea, hold out your hands."

Jamie closed her eyes and surrendered her hands. The man placed an object in each hand and she looked at them. It was her book and her mp3. "Thank you."

"No problem. They were exactly where and how you left them. Though I used some of that Kido you showed me to fix the folded pages. I know how much you hate that."

She kissed him on the cheek gently. "You're an awesome brother, you know that?"

"Eh, I try."

In Japanese she said, "I'm going to Urahara's shop, am I right?"

Ichigo was still a little dumbfounded but he managed to get out, "Ah."

"Ok, let's go."

* * *

"So this is Mizuki?"

"Jamie Powell."

"Very nice to meet you, Powell-san."

"Please, call me Jamie."

"Of course."

Everybody stood, or sat, waiting for her to say something.

"You've been searching for me. You know, you didn't have to. You could've just called me."

"You wouldn't have been able to answer their call unless they were in danger," her brother stood behind her protectively even though he couldn't see most of the room's occupants and would be easily tossed aside if she were to be attacked.

"True and I apologize for that. I shouldn't be doing this right now. I shouldn't have gone into Hell in the first place. The Elders are going to rip me a new one for this."

"The Elders?"

"My teachers; they took me in when I thought I was lost and helped me get as strong as I am now. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for their efforts. I owe them my life."

"What's wrong with being here?" Rukia seemed to be the only one with the nerve to ask her anything, something Jamie admired her for.

"The Elders have forbidden any of my people to speak to humans unless they plan to marry one. We're not supposed to interfere with humans. Hollows are another matter; if one comes into a town, we cleanse the soul so it can go to Soul Society. But if the Hollow can think for itself like an Espada, we're supposed to act like it's a human and leave it alone. My people are watchers; we observe humans' day to day lives. I was watching Dragis when he went into Hell. I saw what he was going to try to do to the Espada so I acted."

"Who are your people?"

Jamie shifted on her cushion. "That, I can't tell you. I'm sorry. I also can't help you break into Soul Society and kill Aizen, Espada. However, I don't think I'll be accused of any crimes if I train all of you to get stronger rather than just the Espada." A corner of her mouth turned up to form a smirk, "Yes, I think that'll work pleasantly."

"You're still going to get punished for interacting with them."

"I have to interact with humans every day and that's a punishment all on its own. I'll accept whatever punishment they give me when I go back. Until I do, I want to help out as much as I can. Urahara-san, do you mind if we go into your training ground?"

"Of course, Jamie-san."

She pulled a cell phone out of her pocket and checked the time. She rose gracefully. "It's late and Riley will chew my ear off if I don't back, whether my brother is with me or not. We'll meet back here tomorrow after school." She strode off into the night with her guardian following her, moving like a wolf.

* * *

"Hm, cozy." Jamie studied the enormous room with her hands on her hips as she waited for the others to join her at the bottom of the ladder. Her brother had already chosen a boulder to lounge on comfortably.

"So, Ichigo, you want to go first? You always seem ready to grow stronger."

"But you don't have a weapon."

"I won't need one. Not yet."

Confused, Ichigo used his combat pass to force his soul out of his body and join her a short distance away from where their audience sat with her brother. Urahara, Tessai, Jinta, Ururu and Yoruichi came to sit with the group as well. He wasn't sure whether to draw Zangetsu or not so he waited for her command.

"If you accept me, I'll be your teacher. I have to warn you: I'm not necessarily a patient teacher if I'm hyper. Part of me is still very much like a 3-year-old. I'll teach you the way my teachers taught me using the 'sink-or-swim' method. You're already familiar with it."

"I am?"

"You gained all your power from brute force and will. You won against Urahara-san by doing it yourself. He let you fight Kuchiki Byakuya and Abarai Renji so you could see for yourself how unprepared you were to fight them. You did everything by finding out how to do it yourself. I will teach you the same way. I'll show you the basics for some things but you have to use your brain for everything else. And remember, it's not just you who will grow by this training; that Zanpakuto of yours will grow also." She walked to create a space between them. She folded her hands behind her back and stood on the balls of her feet. "You aren't exactly practiced in Kido are you?"

"Uh, no."

"If you were you wouldn't have to rely so much on your Bankai. I'll show you what to say for an attack and I want you to hit me with it."

"Hit you?"

"Yes: hit me." She projected her left hand at nothing in particular, "Watch closely and open your ears. I'll only do this once. HADO #33! SOKATSUI!" The enormous reiatsu burst hit a boulder sending bits of rock soaring through the air.

Ichigo focused and positioned his hands as he had seen Rukia do it so many times before. "Hado #33! Sokatsui!" The burst fired from his hand, nowhere near as big as hers had been, but when it got to the halfway point between them, Jamie waved her hand and the reiatsu flashed and vanished. Ichigo's eyes widened but he had no time for that. Without the glitch in the space where she stood or the sound for warning, she was in the air in front of him, already with her legs raised to kick him.

"Sokatsui!" He shot again, but didn't look to see if he'd missed or not. When the smoke from the blast cleared, she stood without a scratch. Just a grin.

"Good. Now another one." This time she directed the first shot at him. "Bakudo #63! Sajo Sabaku!"

Golden chains of energy immediately wrapped themselves around his arms, making them useless. He remembered the night that Rukia had come into his house and bound him with the simple phrase "Sai" that made his arms lock painfully behind his back. He focused his reiatsu to his arms and broke off the chains in a swift movement with both arms. She was already moving, firing another spell at him. Their dance continued until his breath was ragged and he was shaking from the exertion. He had learned a lot of spells and some incantations, and though he didn't remember all of them, he learned the higher the number of the Kido, the more powerful and harder to control it was. A higher Kido number also took a bigger toll on his reiatsu and his body.

"Are you ready to learn to use that oversized butcher knife of yours better?"

"Are you kidding?"

She appeared off to his side in midair. The impact of her one-legged kick sent him rolling. "No I'm not kidding. I'll hit you for every time you question me like that again. When I'm training with you I'm not going to be nice. I'm not going to be your friend. In fact, you may come to hate me when we train, but that's all right with me. You'll grow stronger and that's all that matters. Now get up, Ichigo! Where's your stamina? You're getting all beat up by a girl. And I haven't even started letting loose yet. Does Zangetsu let you sit there and do nothing?"

Ichigo was on his feet with Zangetsu in his hand in an instant.

Jamie's grin widened. "That's more like it. Now hold still." She landed in front of him and touched her hand to his chest. A green light shined from her hand and she mouthed an incantation. All his wounds healed and his reiatsu returned to normal. "Ready?"

"Ah."

"Good." She set the same space between them again and as she walked away from him, she reached over her shoulder like Ichigo did to grab Zangetsu's hilt. A cloth unwrapped from the blade of an oddly shaped sword and coiled itself inside the pommel. What he had believed to have been part of her shirt was actually her sword. She grabbed the sword with her index and middle finger by the pommel and twisted her fingers to make the blade swing out in an arch before catching it with her awaiting hand. She turned back to him and pointed at him with her sword.

"I'll say this once. I'll fight you with the full intent to kill you using only this sword. Defend yourself well, for if I catch you, I will kill you."

"You won't really kill him; will you, Jamie-san?" Orihime had both her fists to her chest, making her appear absolutely vulnerable.

"My Elders killed me whenever I didn't defend myself well enough. That's the same way I'll teach him. They brought me back using what they called magic and I'll use that on him to bring him back so he can get back up and fight me to win." She pounced and their blades clashed with such force that he and the dirt in close proximity to him was pushed down half a foot. She back flipped and rushed him again.

She moved so smoothly as she fought that she appeared to be caught in a dance. She was always on the balls of her feet so that her steps were light and she could easily push herself off to make another flip or spin out of the way of one of his attacks. Her golden eyes watched him as a wolf would its prey as she anticipated his next strike. Even her crouches seemed similar to a wolf's. Her mouth was set in a grin as their blades met again and again and after a while it seemed that instead of growing tired out, she only got more energetic. He managed to cut her clothes occasionally, but every other time, she dodged the blows a second before they impacted. He, on the other hand, was cut up. Not too badly that he'd fall any minute but he had at least a scratch on each of his limbs and his face.

"How many weapons do you have, Ichigo?" She asked him as she spun to have her slim, gold blade meet his.

"Just one; Zangetsu."

She leapt, and kicked him in the side of the head. "WRONG!" Instead of pursuing him she gestured with her arms. "You have your head, your hands, your elbows, your knees! How did you fight the people who beat on you because of your hair color before you discovered your Shinigami powers? When you finally called Zangetsu did you forget how to use the rest of your body to fight? Get up, Ichigo! Fight me like I've been fighting you; with everything you have other than your Bankai."

Ichigo attacked again, but something bothered him. There was the killing intent in her blade, he could feel it, but it still felt as though she was holding back. "Why is your sword shaped like that? I've never seen one like it."

"It's called a khopesh. It's an ancient Egyptian weapon. I like to use it because they're lighter than European swords and have a more elegant curve than a sickle." She tossed it into the air and caught it, this time so the blade ran along the outside of her forearm, the curve facing out. The corner of her mouth twitched upward, enhancing the smirk, as she lunged.

Finally, he blocked one of her attacks to his chest with Zangetsu and she pushed off of his blade in a backwards flip and landed on her toes again, bending her legs to absorb the force, a good distance away from him. He stood panting yet again while she stood not showing any signs of weariness. She shook his blood that had gathered on the edge off in one swift movement.

She nodded to herself, "That's much better. If you learn to combine those attacks and defenses with Kido you'll become much less dependent on your Bankai. But I haven't had to privilege of seeing your new Bankai. I assume it's changed along with your Shikai?"

"Ah."

"Good." She threw her blade to the ground, making it stick in the dirt before jumping to him and healing him with the same process as before. She flipped back to her sword but didn't pick it up, merely crossed her arms over her chest, leaned on one leg and waited with a smirk. "Let's see it."

He held out Zangetsu in front of him and placed his left hand on the inside of his elbow as he had countless times before. He was just about to say the necessary words when he noticed her trying to hide her chuckles. "What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing. I'm just waiting for it."

"For what?"

"For you to say 'Bankai'. You say it funny." She started laughing.

"I do?" He didn't really think about what he sounded like when he shouted the phrase, just did it like he breathed. It was natural for him. "What do I sound like?"

She held out her hand to him, "If I may?"

He nodded and she gently took Zangetsu from his hand and returned to her spot. She cleared her throat and tossed what little bit of hair that she had before assuming the stance that he had.

"Ban-" She waited about 10 seconds, "KAI!" She stood normally and started laughing and was soon joined by some in their audience. Then the circle of dirt moved around her as it did for anyone that released a little reiatsu. She stopped laughing when her reiatsu burst to the ceiling, concealing her. Despite the fact that they could see the reiatsu, black with an outline that shifted colors like a prism, they still couldn't feel it. When the smoke cleared, Jamie stood wearing Ichigo's shihakushō with the X's across her chest and the black gloves with the white X's on her arms. "Tensa Zangetsu," she said quietly. The sword was the way it had been when he got his powers and first used his new Bankai; curved near the tip with three protrusions along the blunt end of the sword close to the tip. The chain from the base of the sword's hilt attached to her right glove.

There was nothing but silence. Everyone was dumbfounded. No one could use another's Shikai or Bankai just as no one could use somebody else's reiatsu. Who, or what, was she that she could use Ichigo's Bankai? It was clear that she was just as confused. She stood holding the sword, eyes wide and mouth hanging open. She didn't even blink. The Captains knew that the Captain-Commander would want to hear about this and probably want to interrogate the girl himself. Especially on how she managed to keep her reiatsu hidden even while performing Kido and now Bankai. She had said she was the daughter of 2 Shinigami. Did that mean she, herself, was able to do Bankai?

Jamie suddenly dropped the sword, causing the Bankai to cease, so Zangetsu dropped to the ground in its constant-Shikai state. Her eyes now held a new sort of confusion, tinged with fear. She stared at the sword as if it was a Komodo Dragon.

Ichigo ran up to her. "Oi, what is it? What's wrong?"

She jabbed a finger at the sword, "It talked to me!"

"It –talked to you?"

"Yes. Zangetsu sounds like this, doesn't he?" She cleared her throat, "Ichigo."

His eyes turned to the size of saucers; she had made her voice sound exactly like Old man Zangetsu. "Ah, that's what he sounds like. What'd he say?"

"He asked me who I was since I wasn't you. I had no response so I dropped him. It's not every day I get talked to by a Zanpakuto." She picked up Zangetsu, holding the blade in both hands. "Sorry, Zangetsu." Her eyes widened again and she quickly gave Ichigo back his sword. "He responded."

"With?"

"'It's all right.'"

"How did you do that?"

"I have no bloody clue."

"I wonder if you can do it with other Zanpakuto," Rukia stood from her spot on the ground and held out her katana. "Here try mine."

"You'll let me use Sode no Shirayuki?"

"Ah," she smiled.

Jamie took the katana and stood in front of the waiting audience, now leaning forward intently. She took Rukia's stance and spun the sword the counter clock wise. "Mae, Sode no Shirayuki." The air turned frosty and the Zanpakuto became the graceful white sword that was considered the most beautiful Zanpakuto in Soul Society. Jamie grinned, now excited with this newfound knowledge.

"Try the dances," Rukia encouraged her.

"Some no mai, Tsukishiro!"

After she'd had some fun with Sode no Shirayuki's "dances" she gingerly handed it back to Rukia where it promptly returned to its appearance as a regular katana. "Thank you," her eyes widened again before looking up at Rukia. "She has a lovely voice."

"Yes, she does."

Renji stood up from his position in the dirt and held out his sword. "My turn."

"Zabimaru," Jamie held it in her hands then threw back her head and laughed. She looked back at Renji. "This Zanpakuto has a nice sarcastic attitude." She prepared herself, "Heoro, Zabimaru!" Sure enough, Zabimaru expanded into the 6-part segmented blade. She turned to Renji with a gleam in her eyes. "Can I try Bankai?"

He nodded the affirmative and she yelled, "BANKAI! Hihio Zabimaru!" When she was finished, she threw it in a thrust motion so the sword landed neatly in its sheath on Renji's hip. She placed her hands on her hips and heaved a sigh. "Well, that was exciting. Goes to show that you really do learn new things every day." She narrowed her eyes at Ichigo, "You aren't on good terms with your Hollow are you?"

Again silence. "W-what? How do you know about my-"

"Answer the question, boy," she growled.

"What do you mean 'good terms'?"

"It still plans on taking over your body the moment it senses weakness."

He lowered his eyes, "Yes." He brought them up to stare back into her hard, weighing gaze. "But I'm not going to let him."

She shook her head in disdain, "That's not going to work."

"What?"

"You need to learn to work with your Hollow."

Shinji was on his feet in an instant, "Are you insane?"

"I thought I already told you that I was crazy. Whatever. When your Hollow first began to try to take control of you, it used techniques that you hadn't thought of yourself; like the spinning of Zangetsu by its cloth and throwing it at an enemy. You could do that too if you got him to teach you. He could give you ideas of how to strengthen yourself from the inside out. Beating him into submission was the first step to understanding him. You, Ichigo, understand the people you've fought against probably more than you would if you talked to them. You've fought against Ishida in a way and now look where that has led you: a relationship that couldn't be broken easily. Now that you've fought against your Hollow several times, you know what his drives are."

"He wants to control me!"

"Yes, but you can convince him to help you. If you die, then both of you die. That's the way it is. That demon inside you that came out while fighting Ulquiorra can be tamed. You just have to know how. Your Hollow can teach you how."

"Hollows aren't things to be bargained with," Byakuya looked bored, even though his eyes were open, but he was glowering at this confident girl who was suggesting what he thought was ludicrous.

"Hollows aren't _things_," she snapped as she turned her glowing yellow eyes at the Captain whose eyes widened at the menace they held. "Hollows are people that stuck up Shinigami nobles like you fail to perform konso on." She straightened from her crouch that she had inadvertently gotten in as if to lunge at Byakuya in a fury. She sniffed and stood straighter. "Here, I think you can show them better than I can at how well you can contain yourself." She reached behind her head and pulled forward a mask that resembled that of an animalistic screaming face. She dropped her hand then brought it back up to the mask but this time when she did her voice changed.

"_Sure, sounds like fun._" The mask lifted and there was Jamie's Hollow. "_Nice to meet you._" She tossed the mask carelessly off to the side. Her clothes had changed colors, from dark clothes she had been wearing to light and vice versa. "_Nice to meet ya, Mistress named me Rina."_

"You're-you're a Hollow!"

"_Wow, you win the prize for being Captain Obvious."_

"But-how?"

"_Once Mistress and I finally came to an agreement, we found out that she can make me come out at will. She can choose whenever she puts on her mask if she wants to have me 'take the wheel'. Also, I can speak to her directly at any time. It used to scare the crap out her, having me talking to her in her head when she'd least expect it. I take it yours is still being feisty?" _

"Y-yea, I-I guess so."

She appeared in midair off to his side and gave him the same kick with her leg that sent him tumbling that Jamie had. "_Quit being so indecisive, kid. I'm not gonna bite ya…hard." _She threw back her head and laughed. _"I heard his voice in that sword of yours, muttering inside Zangetsu. You may not be able to hear him when you go into your soul and speak to Zangetsu, but he's still there._ _ Mistress can talk to him; try to get him to be reasonable."_

"Why would I want to work with him? I can just practice the moves he does on my own."

Rina's grin grew across her face, "_If you let him out more often, he'll be stronger and won't be as tempted to take over you. Also, if you do work with him, your power with the mask on will be stronger. 'Cause it won't just be you using his power, it'll be his and your power combined. Just a thought. Now do you want my Mistress to talk to him or not?"_

"Why do you call her that?"

"_Mistress? She's the Queen but she refuses to let me call her 'Your Majesty' or 'Grace'. I think I've done all I can, Mistress, I'm going back in now." _She brought down her mask just as Jamie had and let her hand fall. Jamie grasped her mask with her right hand and pulled it off, turning it into reiatsu that sparked before vanishing.

"My Hollow is as much a part of me as your Hollow is a part of you. If you don't learn to get him to agree with you, you will be battling yourself forever and won't ever meet your full potential. Now, I'll give you some time to think about whether or not you want to learn from your Hollow but you should choose wisely. If you're constantly trying to suppress that part of your power, you'll wear out that much faster. I-" Her phone rang and she put a hand to her pocket before remembering she'd given it to her brother. He answered it for her, leaping to her side so she could listen.

"Hello?" His English sounded courteous and expectant.

"Where's Jamie?" The man held the phone away from his ear because her voice was so loud.

"She's with me. Why, what'd she do this time?"

"This is the second day in a row that you guys have gone off together without me."

"And whose fault is that?"

"Yours! I turned around and you two were gone already. Where are you?"

"We happen to be trapped inside somebody's basement at the moment."

"Ha ha, so funny. You and Jamie are both too much of smartasses."

"I'm sorry. She's a horrible influence on me. Excuse me while I go dump her in a river."

"You touch her and I swear I will murder you."

"I believe you. Now was there something specific that you wanted her for?"

"Yea, I can't understand a word of this! It's all in Japanese!"

"No really? I thought it would all be in Polish after all, we're in Japan."

"Fuck you."

He sucked air in through his teeth. "I think I'll pass on that. Besides, don't you have a boyfriend?"

"Give me that!" Jamie yanked the phone away from him but held it the same distance away from herself as he had for him so her eardrum wouldn't get too much damage from the volume of her friend's voice. "Sorry, Riley, David decided he wanted to be a dork. I'll translate everything for you when we get back."

"All right. You should hurry up; this hotel's boring by myself."

"Go bother the bartender downstairs. I'm sure he'll give you something to do. Just don't touch any of the alcohol. I don't want to find your alcoholic face on the floor 'cause you've been binge drinking again."

"You know what? Fuck you!"

"Um, no thanks. I like guys too much for that."

"Whatever, you're gay, loser."

"Gee, thanks. Love you, too."

"Bye." Click.

Jamie sighed along with her brother. "I think that's the longest she's gone without cussing."

"Record breaker?"

"Possibly."

"I suppose this means I should get you home, missy."

"Don't you dare start calling me that, or I swear I will-"

"What are you gonna do to me? You're a freakin' stick and I know that Rina will agree with me. I could use _you_ to beat people with instead of my sword."

"You wanna go?" Jamie stood on her toes so she'd be right up in his face, her hands up in a "Come at me, bro" stance.

"Maybe I do." He looked down at her feet. "You gonna fight me like a ballerina on the balls of your feet?"

"You got a problem with that, fuzzball?"

"What'd you call me?"

"You heard me, _David_."

"Hey I picked that name only because you told me to."

"I never told you that. I said David's a good human name. Don't mix up what I say with what you think I say, dimwit."

"That's it, now I am gonna punch you, _missy_. And then I'm gonna drag you to the hotel. You can explain why to Riley by yourself."

"Yea right. Come on and try me." She held up both her fists with a grin spreading on her face.

He swung a fist at her but she wrapped one leg around his, pulled, and his knee crumpled. He fell backward, with her landing on top of him. She whipped out a knife as long as her forearm from the inside of her boot and held it to his neck.

"Pinned ya again. It's like you're not even trying anymore. That's no fun."

"You're a twig; I'm afraid I'll snap you."

"Uh huh. Likely excuse." She stood over him after standing on her own, casting a shadow across his face. "Now come on, wimp, or Riley'll beat you for not having me at the hotel in time."

"Riley can kiss my ass."

"That would be gross."

"Oh, shut up." As he got to his feet, Jamie scooped up her khopesh and returned it to its place on her back where the cloth promptly rewound itself around the blade as she turned her attention back to Ichigo.

"Keep practicing. I probably won't be able to come back for the next few days. Riley may seem like she hates me but she can be surprisingly possessive. Especially when he's around me," she jabbed her thumb over her shoulder at her brother. "And you," she gave the Espada a look that was almost scolding, "try not to kill each other. You're next."

And with that, she and her brother disappeared into thin air.


	4. Meeting the Hollow

Oh this chapter was interesting to write. XD

"Ugh. Tell me again why we have to wear these uniforms."

"Because the school requires the students to wear them. It would be rude not to."

"Geez, you sound formal; maybe you really are British. This outfit's all scratchy though and you don't look bothered by it at all."

"It's only the skirt that's scratchy, the pants are fine."

"It's like you're trying to- what's the word I'm looking for?"

"Conform?"

"Yea, like you're trying to get me to conform to their system."

"Go ahead, say it. I'm a loser."

"No you're not. I'm just tired of not understanding a fucking word of what people are saying."

"That's why you have me here. I'm a walking translator."

"You're a nerd that's why."

"Duh, nerd's the new cool."

"You're gay."

"As a matter of fact, I'm quite happy right now."

"Oh, shut up." There was a pause as they walked together. "You're bouncing again."

"I get to see him today."

"Who?"

"A guy." She swayed as she walked on the balls of her feet.

Her friend was immediately interested. "Who is it? Tell me, tell me." When her partner didn't respond she continued to bombard her with questions. "Does he go to the school? Is he one of those guys that Keigo showed us? What's he look like?"

She gleamed in excitement. "Yea, he's in the group at lunch." She grinned and watched her feet as they walked. "I get this weird feeling in my stomach when I look at him."

"It's called a crush. Which one is it?"

"This isn't a crush; I've had those before and this isn't like those times. This feels different. I'm stupid with crushes because I get attracted to a guy then I tell myself that I love them and then I pursue it and the relationship explodes in my face. That's why I told myself that I wasn't to have any more crushes ever."

"How many crushes have you had?" The question was said in a not-so-nice manner of disbelief that this girl would have any crushes at all.

"Let's see." The girl resumed walking normally as she counted on her fingers, looking at the sky as she remembered each one. When she finished, she held up 7 fingers and showed them to her friend.

"Whore."

"Hey! I didn't _sleep_ with them. My childish mind just went overboard. Anyway, this doesn't feel like that. I like him but I think he has feelings for somebody else and that doesn't bother me. I'm totally fine with whatever he wants as long as he's happy." She met her friend's eyes. "It's weird."

"It's called love, loser."

"Is it though? Or is my mind playing with me again?"

"I'm gonna punch you if you don't tell me which one he is."

"You'll punch me for liking him anyway. After all, we're only here for a little while. It's stupid and I should just forget about it. I'm gonna be the lonely cat lady forever, right?"

"I'm not gonna let you be alone. I'm gonna find a guy for you."

"Which is it? Am I gonna be alone or are you gonna get me somebody? Maybe you'll hook me up with somebody but the relationship will end horribly and then I'll decide not to date again and buy bunches of cats, because he hated them and that's my way of shoving it in his face even though he's not there anymore, and then I'll have become the lonely cat lady."

"You're gay."

* * *

Jamie sat cradling her temple in the palm of her hand as she drew something in her notebook. Riley was too far away from her to pick out what it was but it was odd for "the nerd" to not be paying attention. She had been like this ever since they got to the school. She wasn't talking; not after their conversation that morning. Riley continued writing the notes even though they looked like scribble and the teacher's talk sounded like gibberish. Jamie would explain it all to her later; she always did. She'd leave the room for a bit to go to the bathroom or get some water from their fridge and Jamie would've already translated half a page of notes for her. Originally, Jamie would've come to Japan by herself, but Riley didn't trust her to be left alone. Jamie had been fairly depressed, (a major under statement), but the blond kept insisting she was fine. Riley herself hadn't even noticed until one day after school when she asked Jamie what was wrong and her friend just bit her bottom lip and shook her head. Riley wasn't going to let her go off somewhere and then never here from her again because she'd committed suicide.

Come to think of it, Riley hadn't seen Jamie laughing so hard like she did when she talked to the black-haired girl, (Rukia?), for at least a year. The bell rang and all the students hurried out, except for Jamie who sat oblivious to everything around her other than her art. Riley came over and was about to smack the desk with her notebook to try and earn a jump off the chair. But the blond simply gathered her stuff and stood.

"Ready?"

"Yes, I'm starving. Come stand in line with me."

"Ok."

"Miyako-san! Riley-san!"

"Ohio, Keigo!"

"'Sup?"

"You two look good today. Are you ready to sit with the others?"

"Yup. Riley just had to get some food."

"Excellent! I wonder what Orihime-san's eating today."

Riley saw her friend beginning to lapse into her daydreaming state as they were about to walk out the door to the roof so she shoved her with an elbow.

"Ow! What the hell was that for?"

The group brought their heads up to see what the fuss coming from inside was about.

"Keigo, would you mind setting our stuff down where we normally sit?"

"Of course, Riley-san!"

Jamie rubbed her arm. "That hurt." She raised the sleeve enough to see where she'd been hit. "It's already turning red, meanie!"

"That's 'cause you're so freakin' white." She stepped closer, "You never told me which one he was."

"And I don't plan to," she walked out the door and Riley punched her in the arm where she'd hit her the first time.

"OW! Bloody burn you!"

"I told you I would."

"You didn't have to hit so hard!" She sat by Rukia again, nursing her arm and glaring at Riley. "Butthead," she muttered.

Orihime glanced back and forth between them, "How did you two become friends?"

"Uh….." the girls stared at each other as if the answer were written on each other's faces in fine print. It was interesting that as much as Riley wouldn't admit it, she was picking up on Japanese fairly well to have been able to figure out the question on her own.

"I don't even remember," Jamie shrugged.

"I don't either."

"Is Miyako your middle name? I've heard someone call you 'Jamie' before." Rukia was a lot better at the playing dumb game than Ichigo was.

Jamie sipped from her juice box a bit before answering, "No, it's not. I just think it's a pretty name. But I find it's easier for people here to pronounce Miyako than Jamie. That and Jamie-san just sounds weirder than Miyako-san. I suppose you could call me Jamie if you like but the other classmates might be a little confused if you refer to me as such." Another sip. "I wonder what time it is." She pulled out her phone and appeared taken aback for a second.

"What's wrong?" Rukia leaned toward her.

"Somebody's calling me." She pressed a button, "Hello? I'm sorry I can't talk very long; I'm at school." Her eyes grew to the size of Ping-Pong balls. "Excuse me," she whispered to the group before hurriedly standing and striding over to the other side of the roof. After a while, she pressed another button and returned to the circle. "Sorry about that; some people forgot that I came overseas. "

"Who was it?" Riley's face showed a slight bit of concern.

"A friend; you wouldn't know them."

And the concern was gone. "Oh."

* * *

"Bye, Miyako-san!"

"Be safe, Inoue-san!"

"You, too!"

"I swear her voice is getting on my nerves."

"That's not very nice, Riley."

"Well, it's true. It's too high pitched."

"You think that's high pitched? Pfft. You haven't heard Ally back home. _She_ has a high pitched voice. And I mean _high_ pitched."

"Oh, god."

"JAMIE!"

"Who the fuck is callin' you now?" They both turned around to see Ichigo catching up to them.

"Hold on; I'll see what he wants."

"Don't take too long."

Jamie met him halfway. "What's up?"

"Can you train today?"

Her smirk appeared again, "Why so anxious to fight me? Are the others boring you already? You don't look like you've fought Kenpachi yet. You probably wouldn't be able to come back to school if you did."

"Uh, how do you know his name?"

She rolled her eyes, "The same way I knew what the Espada were called and the same way I knew all your friends' names before Keigo even introduced us. I watched, and I listened. It's what I do." Her eyes narrowed and her voice took on a slightly dangerous tone, "You didn't answer my question, boy."

"Why do you call me that? We're the same age!"

Laughter rolled out of her, that same clear sound that had mesmerized the Espada in Hell. "Oh there's so much you don't know. I guess I don't need you to answer that question. The question I _do_ want you to answer is about my offer. Have you decided? If you say no, there's nothing more I can do for you and I'll have to begin training the others, though I'm sure they've already been trying what you have. Am I right?"

"Ah."

"Good. They should keep it up." She shook her head sadly. "Lord knows how long it'll take them to be strong enough to defeat Aizen. Or break into Soul Society for that matter. I know that Seireitei won't just let them waltz right on through to raid their prison and kill their highest security prisoner. Let me know though, if you want me to talk to your other half."

He grimaced but closed his eyes and sighed before looking back into her blue eyes. "Um, first, why does your eye color change?"

"When I was human I had eyes that would shift between blue and green with a golden ring around my pupils that you could only see when they were contracted fully. When I became what I am now, my eyes permanently became that glowing yellow that you've been seeing. Since humans aren't supposed to know about us and human eye color doesn't suddenly just change overnight, I've had to wear contacts. That and my sight is far better now than a humans; I needed glasses when I was younger, so I wear these contacts that dull my sight to that that it was and wear glasses so humans aren't thrown off. Humans tend to get edgy around me when I don't have my contacts in. You can tell the others that too if they were curious about it also." She shrugged, "Just as long as nobody hears about it that shouldn't."

"Right."

"Now what were you going to say?"

He took a deep breath, "I want you to talk to my H-other half."

"It's a good thing you caught yourself. You should learn to filter what you say around people. You never know who's listening." She winked, "It might be me. Anyways, we won't need the others around while I'm talking to him. It would most likely better if it was just us. It might be less embarrassing for you to sit there with me not moving for a long period of time when you don't have 30 some people staring at you."

"We could meet at my house then?"

"If that's more comfortable for you." She smiled up at him, "Smile, big guy. You'll scare all the ladies away with a scowl like that. I'm surprised that attack hasn't worked on our friends with no hearts that wear masks all the time."

"What do you mean?"

"You're always scowling. Come on, smile. It won't kill you; just might crack your face in half."

"What?" His eyes got big and Jamie gripped her sides as she laughed. He couldn't help but grin at the sound of it.

"See? Was that so hard? You look much handsomer that way." She flashed her teeth at him and started backing away. "Don't worry; I remember how to get to your place." She skipped back to Riley who stood with her arms crossed looking annoyed and pissed as always.

"I didn't know you'd taken to flirting, Ichigo."

"I was not flirting! Get off me! Why do you constantly put your arm on my shoulder?"

"Because it's comfortable and I love how worked up you get over it. It sure looked like you were flirting to me, or maybe she was flirting with you. You certainly got her to laugh."

"The way you called her Mizuki before I'd think _you_ had feelings for her. Why don't _you_ flirt with her."

"What'd you say?"

"Enough you two! Geez, and I thought Ichigo and Renji were bad. If Jamie really is going to talk to your-other half," she hesitated over the phrase that Jamie had used, "then you should be home when she gets there."

"I don't want him there to bug me when she is!" He jabbed his finger into Grimmjow's chest.

"Ha! You just want to be with her alone so you can have some fun." His smirk hinted at things that were better left unsaid.

"That's not what I meant! I just don't want you sitting there watching us the entire time making stupid comments!"

"Ichigo, you should lower your voice; people are beginning to look at you. Grimmjow, please stop testing him. We all have work to do."

"Tch. I was just tryin' to have some fun. Maybe Karin will be up to playing a game with me."

"You go anywhere near my sister and I swear I'll wring your neck!"

"Calm down, Ichigo. She's too young for me anyway. Jamie's more my type."

Ichigo hadn't expected that. "Wait, so you do have feelings for her?"

"If you make a comment on that I'll put a Gran Rey Cero in your face," the blue haired man said quietly with a sharp glare before stalking off towards the Kurosaki Clinic.

"Best not to push him. Especially while he's sleeping under your roof."

"Don't remind me."

* * *

"I need to go for a walk."

"Why?"

"Because I'm lazy and my body wasn't born to be lazy. I need exercise. Besides, it's beautiful outside; I can't walk around in Arizona like this, I'd melt."

"All right. Just make sure to take David with you."

"Like he's gonna let me go by myself." She closed the door to their hotel room and nearly bumped into her brother.

"Going somewhere?"

"It's time to go see him."

"You could've slipped her something to make her go to sleep."

The blond shook her head, "That would've been wrong. She's had way too many people do that to her in the past."

"Or so she says."

"I know you don't believe her."

"I know you don't either."

"Are you coming with me or not, butthead?"

"Of course, smelly."

"Hey! I smell good."

Her brother leaned in a little closer and sniffed. "Actually, yea you do." He stepped back and gave her a scrutinizing look. "You smell like strawberries."

"Yup; it's my favorite fruit smell," she trotted down the hall to the elevator.

"You have other favorite smells?"

"Mh hmm. I love the smell of cinnamon, fresh rain, oh and you can't forget good coffee." She sighed and stared off in space for a bit.

"I think you just like strawberries."

"Yea, they're my favorite fruit! Especially if they're covered in chocolate."

"Fantasizing?"

"You say one more word and you'll be losing your voice in a bit."

"Um, yea because that's scary."

"It is when you find out how you're losing your voice."

"How?"

"From screaming too long because of the tortures I'll put you through." She smiled with her eyes closed and the elevator opened for them.

"That's a _lovely_ thought. Why are we friends again?" The doors slid shut behind them and the metal contraption began its descent.

Jamie's eyes widened in surprise. "Wait, we're friends? No way." She broke the act with another giggle.

He shoved her gently in arm and was alarmed when that drew a sharp intake of her breath. "What? What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she breathed from behind clenched teeth.

He pushed up her sleeve carefully and saw a massive bruise on her upper arm, just below her shoulder. "Who did this to you?"

She jerked her head upwards to indicate the person upstairs. "My bestie," her voice held no kindness and her eyes held a dark tint to them and she looked away from him with an irked expression.

"Why do you let her do this to you?"

The girl sighed, "Because I can't bring myself to hurt her feelings."

"So you let her walk all over you like a rug?" They exited the elevator, past the bartender who waved at them and out the door. He was about to say something else when she spoke.

"You have to remember, brother, being walked all over is what I'm used to." Her gaze stayed straight ahead, not meeting his, her walk was normal, just walking and not the bouncing in excitement the way she usually did.

"But that was when you were younger; you're over that now. I've seen you talk with other people; you don't take their crap. I don't see how she's so much better than all the others that she's allowed to say whatever she wants to you and get away with it."

"It's because I love her."

"That isn't love that she's showing you. How many times has she told you 'I love you'?"

She thought about it for a moment. "Three times."

"That's it? And how many times do you tell her?"

"Once a day, I think. It could be less."

"And how often do I tell you?"

"What does that have to do with-"

He shook his head, "Just answer me."

Her mouth pulled up just a bit on both sides and her eyes squinted a little in compassion, "All the time."

"See?"

"A couple more years, Duskrider. A couple more years. That's the way I see it."

"Why not just end it now?"

"And how do you suggest I do that, hmm? I'm afraid that if I walk up to her and tell her we can't hang out anymore that I'll flip out on her." She whispered so quietly so only people with acute hearing such as a Bounts, vampires, werewolves, or one of their people could've heard her, "Do you have any idea what my Hollow wants to scream in her face for what she's called me?"

"I'd assume not very nice things."

"No, not at all." She sighed. "This wasn't the note that I was planning on arriving at Ichigo's door with."

"Sorry."

"No, it's all right. You deserved to know. I know that question's been nagging at you ever since you met her."

"Am I that easy to read?"

He got the smile he wanted. "To me, you are. And to Dawn."

"Don't even bring her in this conversation."

"Why not?"

"You two are so alike, it's freaky. Especially when you say stuff at the exact same time and in the same tone; you sound like you're one person."

"That's why I love her. She's like my other half." She cringed. "Sorry, Rina, it's true." She rolled her eyes. "No she's not like your replacement. You've been in my head for as long as I can remember, I just didn't know when I was little that it was you. Dawn's like my long lost twin. I'd never replace you. You're too awesome to be replaced." She shut her eyes, smiled and hugged herself. "I love you, too."

Duskrider raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry, I'd hate to intrude. Do you need a moment alone?"

"No," the two voices spoke as one and one of her eyes flashed dark as Rina took over half of Jamie's face.

"Just checking. Now, when we get there, do you want me to wait outside?"

"You don't have to. I'm sure the Kurosakis wouldn't mind if you watched their TV. Kuchiki and Jaegerjaquez are both there too so you might have at least one person to talk to. Though it might be best if we're all in his room together; his dad and Yuzu might be less tempted to listen in if there's a group of us in his room instead of just him and I."

* * *

**Tap tap tap.**

The door creaked open and the couple saw Yuzu was the one bearing the door. The small girl's eyes grew to the size of small oranges and she let out a small gasp. "Miyako-san!"

Jamie bowed to her, "Good evening, Kurosaki-san!"

"What are you doing here? You're not hurt again are you?"

"No, no, I'm fine. I was just wondering if your brother was home. I go to his school now and I promised I'd help him with something."

"Oh, of course! Come right in. Um, who are you?"

"Oh, this is my brother, David. I hope it's not too much trouble for him to be here too. I don't think my dad would let me out of the house without him."

"And the way you came here last time, it's a good thing he wouldn't." Isshin Kurosaki stood behind his daughter. "I'm glad to see you're doing alright, Miyako-san."

"And you too, Kurosaki. Is it all right if he just watches your TV?"

"Of course! Go right in," he followed "David" asking him questions as he had Jamie when she arrived the first time.

Yuzu was still looking up at her, "We just finished dinner if you'd like some."

"Only if it's not too much to ask."

Her pigtails swayed as she shook her head. "You can eat as much as you want."

"Thank you very much."

"No problem!" She sat her guest at the table and served her before leaning through the doorway leading to the hallway and called up the stairs. "Onii-chan!"

"WHAT, YUZU?"

"Miyako-san's here!"

His door opened and his footsteps thudded on the wood stairs. He looked down at his sister who pointed into the kitchen. Jamie waved to him with her chopsticks.

"I hope I didn't come too late."

"No, now is fine. I just finished up my homework."

"Everything but your English, right?" she gave him a meaningful look.

"Ah, it's giving me a little trouble."

"Which is why I'm here. Ohio, Kuchiki-san!" The raven haired girl stood behind Ichigo and smiled at Jamie.

"You can call me Rukia."

"Really? I didn't think we were that close yet. You honor me."

"Of course."

"Are we ready?" She stood, scooping up the last bits of rice into her mouth. "Thank you for the food, Kurosaki-san. It was very good."

"You're welcome! Oh! You don't have to wash that, I can do it." Jamie's hand froze on the water faucet and she gave the girl a confused look.

"Are you sure? I feel like I'm pushing you around to just hand you my dirty dish."

"You're our guest; you don't have to clean anything." The little girl took the dish out of her hand and began washing it herself.

Jamie edged towards the doorway. "O-ok." The trio walked up the stairs, "Defensive of her place isn't she?"

"She's always done that, ever since our Mom passed away."

Jamie's eyes narrowed sadly as she glanced back downstairs as if she could see her through the wall. Ichigo didn't know what was going on.

"Are you ok?"

In an instant the look was gone, like she'd been snapped out of a memory. "Yea, I'm fine. Let's do this."

Ichigo shut his bedroom door once they were inside. "Get off my bed, Grimmjow!"

"Well, where do ya want me to sit, stupid?"

"What'd you call me?" The two were forehead-to-forehead again glaring at each other and shoving one another. Rukia shook her head.

"They're always like this."

"That's easily fixed." Jamie stepped up, grabbed a fistful of hair on the back of each of their heads and slammed their foreheads together. They rebounded and landed on their butts, groaning. They sat up rubbing their wounds, still glaring at each other. Jamie put her hands on her hips. "The next time you two start doing that, I'll slam your heads together harder. Got that?"

"Ah," the two looked and sounded like a pair of boys caught wrestling in the mud by their mom.

"Good, now we can start this."

"I thought it might be less conspicuous if we stayed in here together," Rukia hopped up on the cushion in Ichigo's closet to watch the events.

"I thought the same thing. Jaegerjaquez, please don't mess with Ichigo while I'm in his soul."

"Tch. I was just having fun with him."

"Your idea of fun isn't exactly everyone else's. Please?"

"All right. And it's Grimmjow, everybody calls me that."

"Well, I'm not everybody now am I?" She smirked at him and he had to do everything in his power not to blush in front of this girl.

"Tch," was the response which saved him as he shook his head with a smile on his face.

Jamie sat cross-legged on the floor in and Ichigo sat in front of her. "So how are you going to do this?"

"Well, I heard your Hollow when I held Zangetsu but I also heard him when I touched your chest. Which makes sense I suppose, if your soul chain would be about there." She touched him in the middle of his chest and he held back a shiver. He'd never had a girl close to him this way. "I don't know how long this will take so I'll have Rina alert for when you to tap me every 15 minutes so we don't lose track of time. I don't want to keep you up all night." She shifted how she sat on the floor. "Do you mind if I sit on a pillow or something? My bone is digging into the floor and it's killing me."

"Yea, sure."

Grimmjow, who was sitting on the bed even though the orange-haired teen had told him not to, grabbed a pillow and held it down to her. "This good?"

"Yes, thank you." Her smile made his stomach feel weird, like it was tingling. He simply nodded because he knew that anything he tried to say would sound horribly stupid. She positioned herself on her seat and placed her hand on Ichigo's chest.

"Are you ready?" She looked at him from under her lashes.

He nodded, "Ah. Let's get this over with."

"Please try to sound a little less enthusiastic." Her sarcasm was said in a teasing tone before she closed her eyes, drew in a deep breath and concentrated.

* * *

She stood on a sideways skyscraper, surrounded by others that looked almost identical, with an empty blue sky visible through the gaps in the buildings. She could still feel her Hollow's presence in the back of her head as always but the reiatsus of the three in the room with her now felt distant. She smiled. She'd gotten a glimpse of his soul when she held Zangetsu and he talked to her but now she was in it. The technique she'd used before to open up someone's soul to her had worked yet again. His soul was very different from hers, but it didn't bother her.

"You again."

She spun to see Zangetsu standing casually on the tip of a flagpole. "Yes me."

"You don't look afraid as Ichigo did when he realized he was on the side of a building."

"That's because he thought he'd fall again. His world is steady now; I have no reason to be afraid."

"_Are ya sure about that?_" The voice came from behind her but she remained facing Zangetsu.

"Shiro Ichi."

"_What'd you call me?_"

"Shiro Ichi, short for white Ichigo. I figured Ichigo hadn't named you yet."

"_Why would he name me? I'm the horse now until he grows weak and I can take over him._"

"I named mine Rina. She seems to like the name; she hasn't voiced otherwise."

The Hollow tilted his head. "_Why aren't ya lookin' at me? Are ya afraid to see what I look like?"_

"No, I was waiting to see if you were going to attack me before I got the chance to talk with you." She looked at him over her shoulder. "Are you?"

The Hollow was momentarily speechless. This woman was talking to him as an equal, not attacking or trying to subdue him. Her eyes held him captive. The look on her face was alien to him. Ichigo was talking to a woman like this and he didn't know about it? Damn. In the moment it took for him to hesitate, she had moved to sit facing him. She patted the glassy spot in front of her.

"I bet Ichigo doesn't let you rest on the rare occasions he comes to visit his soul. Sit with me."

He glared at her, unsure of whether he should do what she said. After all, this could be a trick. She seemed to sense his tension.

"I have no weapons, Shiro Ichi. I have nothing to gain by hurting you, so I'm not going to. I just want to talk. Ichigo never talks to you and the only company you have is Zangetsu. It must be lonely in here for the both of you."

He sat in front of her, watching every move she made to make sure she couldn't pull anything on him. _"So what are we gonna talk about?"_

"You."

_"Me? What about me?"_

"About making you stronger." His eyes widened and she continued. "Rina and I used to fight like you and Ichigo do now. I forced her into submission but I didn't want to keep fighting her. She used techniques I hadn't thought of before, she was faster than me and I realized I relied on her power. I used the mask often but that wasn't enough. I was still fighting on two fronts; on the outside and on the inside." She tapped her heart. "I entered my soul and asked Rina if we could just work together. She laughed at me and I suppose I would've laughed at me too. I told her that I would let her take control of me when I put the mask on so she could have her fun instead of being locked away in my soul and having to fight just me all the time. I asked her to work with me as a team so we could take on more enemies and have greater fights together.

"When we made our pact, I did as I promised. When I was in a fight where my enemy was already seeing my movements, I let her take over. I don't have to let her but I want her to fight with me, not against me. That wears both of us out so the mask isn't as strong."

_"So you mean….?"_

"If you and Ichigo worked together, you'd both become stronger. Whenever he'd use the mask, he'd be using both of your powers instead of just his but your abilities. You wouldn't have to sit in here and wait for a chance to take over him. You wouldn't have to take over him. There's no reason to. What would you do when you took over him? Take over the world? That's boring; everybody's trying to do that nowadays. It's so unoriginal." She reached for his hand and took it gently in hers. "If you work with him you could fight as you want as long as you don't go overboard. You've seen how many times Ichigo's been beat up in battle. He wouldn't have to be. You could save him and he'd be grateful and let you out more. Sometimes, I don't even wait for a battle; I just put on my mask and let Rina walk around for a while, just as long as nobody sees her."

_"So, Ichigo and I wouldn't fight anymore?"_

She shrugged. "I'm just saying it would waste both of your energies, which makes the mask weaker because you're weaker. If you're not beating up on each other, you're both stronger. If he lets you out, you'd be using both his power and yours."

He frowned and was obviously thinking about it so she took his other hand. "I'll try to give him the same talk when I get a chance alone with him. You have to understand that this agreement won't just immediately be easy. I know you have pent up anger against him and I understand that. Believe me I do. Rina let loose the first time I let her out to get all her feelings out of her system. I know you and Ichigo don't trust each other so this will take a while but you have to be patient. I know you, who have sat here waiting for an opportunity to take control of him, are probably more patient than he is."

_"He's a kid with a temper."_

"Yes, he is." Her smile warmed him. Why had he never met her before? "You'll both have to be patient with each other. Rina and I may be best friends now, or at least I hope that I'm speaking for the both of us, but we've had this pact for years and I'm not the same as Ichigo. I just want you to consider this. Whether or not you choose to actually follow through is up to you." She leaned close and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you, for letting me talk with you."

He thought she was about to stand so he gripped her hands. She looked at him quizzically. "I'm not going anywhere. You have yet to tell me if you're going to attack me." Her grin charmed him and he laughed.

_"Ichigo's so stupid!"_

"What do you mean?"

_"He hasn't kissed you yet has he?"_

Her eyes grew big and she blushed. "No, he hasn't. Why would he?"

_"He wouldn't 'cause that bastard's too dumb to see a pretty woman when he sees one!"_ He broke off into cackles that sent him on his back, gripping his sides.

"I don't understand."

He put his hand on the back of her head and pulled her closer. The kiss was unexpected so she put her hand on his chest to try and push him off but it simply sat there until he pulled away. _"HA! I beat him to it!" _

"You don't see very many women do you?" Her voice sounded almost pained and she didn't meet his gaze.

_"I've seen enough to know I want you."_ He took her chin in his hand and got her to look at him.

"Why?"

_"Why? 'Cause ya talk to me like I mean somethin'. Ichigo doesn't know what he's got." _

She immediately dropped her eyes dejectedly. "He doesn't have me," she whispered, "He doesn't want me."

_"Or that's what ya think. He's stupid! He's never had a girlfriend."_

"Which means neither have you, silly."

_"At least I'm not stupid."_

Jamie nodded her head, "Thank you, Rina."

_"She can talk to ya while you're in here?"_

"I almost forgot about that. After Rina and I made our pact, we could talk to each other whenever we wanted. She was a presence I could feel in the back of my head. This way she can still help me in fights without really being a part of it. She sees and hears what I do. She just can't feel what I do. Which is good; I don't want her to feel my pain."

_"So I could talk and Ichigo would hear me?"_

She nodded the affirmative.

_"How do we make this-pact?" _

"Well, Rina and I did the old fashioned 'spit-in-your-hand-clasp-em-together-and-say-"deal"' thing. I don't know specifically how that caused the changes to occur in both of us; all I know is that they did."

_"So you're gonna Ichigo what you told me?"_

"Yes, though without so much touching."

_"Ha! He wouldn't know what to do with himself."_

"Does this mean you'll consider it?" They both stood.

_"Nah, my mind's already made. I'll work with him. But-"_

"I won't tell him you said so until he's said yes himself."

_"I think I'm in love with ya."_

"A Hollow in love sounds like a dangerous thing."

_"Only to anybody who tries to get in its way." _

"I'll make sure to move then the next time I see one." She began to close her eyes.

_"Hey."_

"Hmm?"

_"Come back sometime. It does get really boring in here. Sorry, Zangetsu."_

The old man nodded his head. "No offense taken."

"I'll try but that means I'll have to have a reason to touch Ichigo's chest again."

_"I'm gonna beat him up if he doesn't let in you in again."_

"That sort of defeats the purpose of our conversation."

He tugged her closer by her waist. _"Just come back."_

"Yes, sir," she mumbled before getting kissed again. She used a power that her Elders had taught her of making a voice by vibrating a space in the air. "You're making it really hard to leave and I don't want to be stuck in Ichigo's room all night with two people watching us." He let her go. "I'll come back. I promise."

She closed her eyes and pulled out of his soul.

* * *

Reality smacked her full force in the face, leaving her drained and breathless. Her body felt heavy after being in her spirit form and there was no cure other than to roll on her side and just draw in ragged breaths. She couldn't see anything because the room was so bright to her brain because her eyes had been closed for so long. She couldn't hear anything either except for the annoying ringing in her head that she'd had ever since she could remember. _Stupid tinnitus._

"Jamie? Jamie are you ok?" All three of them were standing over her with the same expression, _OMG I don't know what to do if something's actually wrong so please be ok._

"Yea, I'm fine. I just forgot the aftereffects of being in spirit form for long periods of time. I just need a minute to catch my breath and let my heartbeat get back to normal."

_It's been half an hour since you went in_.

_Thank you, Rina. I can always count on you._

_ Don't mention it. No really don't; the whole fuzzy feeling thing kills me._

_Hmm, then you must've hated that episode with Shiro Ichi._

_ Now _that _was hot. Not gonna lie. You get some, girlfriend._

_ Oh, you are definitely my Hollow. _

_ Why do you say that?_

_ Cause I was thinking the exact same thing._

_ HA!_

She finally got the strength to sit up on her own but she continued to take deep breaths to regulate her breathing and heart rate. The others returned to their places but still gave her the looks of "gee, I hope everything's ok". Her whole body ached and felt stiff and no wonder; it had remained motionless for 30 minutes. She rolled her head to get her neck to pop but she really needed a good massage. And all the people that she wouldn't feel ashamed or embarrassed or pushy to ask for one were all in the States. Damn. She didn't want to ask Duskrider- he'd give her his left arm if she asked him to- not when he was already following her around everywhere as her bodyguard and keeping an eye on certain people for her when she was at school. She'd have to make sure and not complain or roll her shoulders around him.

"What'd he say?"

"I figured we'd discuss this whole thing when we get a chance alone. After all, he's your Hollow. That and he wanted to know your answer first before making a final decision."

"That bastard!"

"You have to remember that your Hollow is the personification of all your bad traits. Which is why I'm astounded that he has more patience than you. And if you want to get stronger you're going to have to work with 'that bastard'. Try and be nice to him. He's a part of you. It would be like beating up Zangetsu."

"Zangetsu actually wants me in charge."

"Zangetsu hasn't been inside of you all your life. Every Shinigami, every person has a Hollow inside them. Some people's Hollows actually come out when they become Hollows, others lie forever dormant. Ours have decided to make themselves known and it's up to you to decide whether or not you'll accept him. The way I see it, if I was to reject Rina, it would be like rejecting myself; if I did that, I'd constantly be worn out, tired and never reach my full potential. How can I protect others if I can't protect myself? How am I supposed to accept others if I can't accept myself? To reject my Hollow is to ignore all my bad traits and let them grow worse. If I nurture and help better those traits, I can become a better and stronger person." She waved a hand in front of her face. "That may not be how you see and that's fine. Just try not to be too hard on him. I think it's time for me to go now."

She rose slowly, and a bit unsteadily which Ichigo saw and jumped up to help her. He grabbed her arms and held her in place when her legs decided they didn't really want to stay straight. She thanked him and he nodded as he helped her to the door and down the stairs. She motioned it was ok for him to let go before they walked in front of the doorway. She peeked her head in to see the twins, Isshin and Duskrider watching TV.

"Thank you, Kurosaki-san, for letting me come over."

The man jumped up from the couch and bowed. "Please, come over whenever you like."

Duskrider got up from his spot and glided to her side, his eyes picking up her leaning on the doorframe. Everybody said their good-byes and the couple left the house. When they were a safe distance away, he scooped her up in his arms. "You still weigh, what, 45 pounds soaking wet?"

"Shut up, you." They both laughed.

"How did it go?"

"Very well, I think."

"How did you like it? You got to touch him for a whole half hour."

"It's not like I felt it. I was too busy negotiating."

"You really like him, don't you?"

"We've watched his family for years. I have all our brothers' and sisters' memories from those that watched his house. It's like I've known him ever since we were toddlers. I haven't felt this way about a man since Therin." Her eyes widened after she realized she'd said the name.

"You can say his name now? I'm proud of you."

"You, Dawn and Rina have been a big help."

"Still no word from Caleb, huh?"

She shook her head. "Nothing; it's like he just vanished. Not that I expected him to stick around or for his family to tell me if he'd gone somewhere."

"His parents still hate you?"

"And always will, I'm sure."

"It's good to see you this happy about someone again."

"It feels good. I just hope this turns out far better than last time."

* * *

Hope you guys like this! The part with Shiro Ichi was probably a little awkward. To me, it feels out of character but *le sigh* I don't know. Thoughts?


	5. Another Character Revealed?

Chapter 5

"You should get some sleep."

"I did."

"Three and a half hours isn't enough. Come back to bed."

She leveled her gaze at him. "Are you telling me what to do?"

"Forgive me," he lowered his head.

"I'm too awake to go back to sleep and knowing how my body works, I'd wake up extremely groggy if I go back to sleep now. There's too much on my mind. You should get your sleep though; you've hardly gotten any during our time here."

"I can deal with it-"

"Go back to bed."

"Yes, ma'am."

Jamie was left alone by the small light at the desk. She quietly tapped the end of her pen against the notebook which seemed to mock her with its blank page. She dropped it and gazed at the stars she could through the blinds. She was expecting a call. She'd shoved her friend off when he'd called her at the school and she felt bad, but she knew his news wouldn't be happy. It never was. She'd told him to call her tonight and now all she could do was wait. Luckily, this room didn't have a clock in it or the ticking would drive her insane. The only sounds were those of the fridge, and the heater running. If she listened hard enough, she could hear both her friends' deep breathing from the other rooms. There wasn't much traffic outside but she could pick up the sounds of the occasionally vehicle _vroosh_ing by. It was peaceful.

Her phone vibrated and she answered before it could get too annoying. "I'm alone."

"Good. I'm sorry I disturbed you earlier."

"No, no. I just had an audience that would be quite upset if I just received a phone call that had me in a frenzy. Now, tell me what you saw this time."

"They're still chasing you, Jamie. One man in particular; I believe it's the one who-um, did those not so nice things to you."

"Raped me?"

"Yes. I think."

"Don't worry. I understand. Visions aren't crystal clear; if they were I think you would've gone insane by now. You've shown me a couple, remember?"

"Thank you. You're one of the few people I can easily talk to about these things. Even than the other Bounts. They all think it's weird."

"That's just because they're afraid you'll have a vision about their death. Don't take it too personally. You have a power they don't and it scares them. Now, you saw the man coming after me?"

"Well, I saw a group of men chasing you, _that_ one off in the distance, cackling like he always does. But I'm sure you had already surmised that and didn't need me to tell you they're still after you."

"And never will until somebody, or time, kills them."

"Unfortunate, but true but that wasn't what I wanted to tell you about."

"There's more?"

"Yes, I saw another man, this one quite clear but I'm afraid I can't tell you his name; I've never seen him before. When I had the vision of him I sensed his reiatsu and it felt like that of a Bount, a dangerously old one. He has connections in Karakura Town, I could tell as much because I saw the hotel where you were staying and that orange-haired boy you were with tonight."

"That's one thing I don't like about your visions about me."

"I can't help it, sorry."

"I know, was that all?"

"No. I don't know what his plan is or who he is exactly-I have a sketch of him though and I'll show it to the other Bounts, see if it strikes a memory-but I know that he's powerful, very powerful and I saw his doll."

"What was it?"

"You're not going to like it."

"I don't like dolls in general, spit it out."

* * *

"Good morning, Harribel-san!"

"Good morning, Orihime. What's for breakfast?"

Ulquiorra ignored their incessant chatter as he got ready. The sun shone through the windows of Orihime's small apartment, inviting all its occupants to come out into the new day. Cars rushed on a nearby street, something he wasn't sure if he'd ever get used to. There were so many things about the Human World that were just strange to him, but Orihime tried her best to explain things to them. They toured around the city a few times and she showed them her favorite places to eat, get clothes, and get groceries. Whenever he or Tier pointed out something they weren't sure about, Orihime talked about it. She made interesting food, (that's a nice way of putting it), but he had to admit, it was better than what he could be eating or would have been in he had gone back to Las Noches.

Las Noches.

The others there would want to know about Jamie and her abilities. He'd have to find some time to go back and tell them and let them decide if they wanted to see her for themselves. He wasn't sure if they could trust her; after all, they thought they could trust Aizen. _But he told us not to, she hasn't told us anything._ It seemed she understood they would keep their distance from her and was entirely ok with it. She, unlike Aizen, actually seemed concerned about their well-being. Though why that mattered to her he didn't know. He certainly didn't trust the Shinigami who had made it clear they weren't going to let the Espada out of their sight once they weren't with someone from of Ichigo's group. Nnoitra continually sparred with Kenpachi so they didn't worry about him too much. The Shinigami seemed to be just as unnerved by Jamie as everyone else.

He joined the others in Orihime's tiny kitchen to be greeted by the ginger's smiling face accompanied with a wave. Tier was helping her make whatever combination they had come up with that morning. Ulquiorra didn't even want to know what it was he was eating, just as long as it didn't kill him. This was a huge contrast to the Orihime he'd met in Hueco Mundo. There, she had been reserved and downcast, but here she was a lively creature with no regrets. He supposed it was her true nature coming out, her heart showing on the outside. He remembered that before dying, her reaching out to touch his hand that turned to ash and his own realization that her heart had been there in his hand. Now he could see a human's soul, he was sure. Orihime Inoue put her heart in the open which was probably why she was so easily hurt.

The three people walked to school together and waited for Ichigo simply because Orihime did. She got excited when she saw Rukia and Grimmjow but soon grew confused when they were alone.

"Where's Kurosaki-kun?"

"He's coming. He was a little late getting out of bed. I had to keep Grimmjow from beating him with his clock."

"What? It would've worked and I wasn't going to hit him with it that bad. Saying his name over and over obviously didn't work too well so I was gonna help."

"Well I hope he isn't going to be too late. I'd hate for him to miss school again."

* * *

"Ugh! Why do I have to have that Espada sleeping in my house? He's leaving my stuff everywhere. God, he's annoying." Ichigo walked by himself; holding his schoolbag over his shoulder like he always did. Mizuiro and Keigo must've already headed to school without him since they weren't at their usual waiting spot.

"At least he hasn't blown anything up yet."

"Huh? Jamie, why are you here?"

"I was in the neighborhood, that and I thought we could talk since you don't have your blue attachment."

"Oh right, sure."

* * *

"So, you mean, I'd be stronger?"

She hit him upside the head. "I told you that in Urahara's basement, dummy. Open your ears the next time I say something! It might be important."

"Sorry."

"I'll give you today to decide."

"I don't need that much time."

"Oh?"

"I'll work with him."

"That sounded half-hearted. You don't go into battle that way, so you shouldn't make your decisions that way or you'll be that much committed to them. If you aren't committed to working with him, the pact will eventually break off and you'll be fighting again."

"You're right. I want to fight with him."

"Much better; you sound determined. Now if only you could get a smile on your face, you wouldn't look so much like a Grim Reaper."

"I don't look like a Grim Reaper!"

She laughed, "Put a black hood on you and nobody would be able to tell the difference."

"Why do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Try and get me to smile?"

"Because laughter can throw off your enemies way better than your scowling can, Ichigo. Your fight with the Bount Koga for example: your Hollow took over you and his laugh made Dalk and Koga pause. Laughter unnerves them because they don't know why you're doing it. They know why you'd scowl at them; they like to see you angry. If you show them your teeth and that you're undeterred by the battle, they'll get angry and throw all their force at you to wipe that smile off your face. They'll weaken themselves that way."

"Really?"

She rolled her eyes and sighed. "Seriously, Ichigo, do you not pay attention during your battles? No matter, we're almost there. I'll see you at lunch."

"Yea, aren't you usually with Riley?"

A smirk played on her lips and her eyes glinted mischievously. "She let me go when I told her I was going to talk to a boy. I told her I liked somebody so she'll encourage me to go talk to him." She shrugged, "I just have to make sure I come up with something juicy for her to mull over so she'll get off my back trying to figure out who it is."

"Who is he?"

"He could be anybody, Ichigo. He could even be imaginary. Or he could be you." She laughed at the look on his face before skipping off, leaving Ichigo shaking his head. He didn't think he'd ever understand that girl.

* * *

"Master, we've tracked her down to Karakura Town. She's in the company of the Substitute Shinigami Ichigo Kurosaki and that man Kisuke Urahara."

"And her brother?"

"He stays with her and a human girl in their hotel."

"Excellent. It's good to know I'll squish more than one dog this time."

"When will you attack, Master?"

"Soon enough, I want her to be anxious first, to feel me suffocating her without me even having to touch her. I want her to squirm. She'll come to back to the States on her own."

The servant cackled at the genius of his master. "Would you like us to make the arrangements, Master Fain?"

"Yes, but only for the first step, don't do anything more until I say so."

"As you say, Master Fain."

* * *

"Miyako-san, aren't you going with Riley?" Orihime's face displayed her confusion.

"Not today." The blond strolled lazily beside them with her arms behind her head. "I'm going to Urahara's today. Riley found some new buddies to hang with so she won't notice I'm gone."

"Won't she be angry that you left without her?"

She shrugged and looked at the girl, "Out of sight, out of mind."

"Oh! I'm sure Riley cares about you!"

Jamie snorted, "The only care she'd show for me would be to cry more than everybody else at my funeral and declare that we had been through so much together. If I died in a tragic car accident tomorrow, it would only give her another story to exaggerate on."

Ishida fixed his glasses, "What do you mean 'another story'?"

"Most of everything she's told you is an exaggeration." She gave an annoyed and exhausted sigh. "One of the stories she told me in 8th grade was that she had pretty much died in a hospital. She said her heart had stopped for 5 minutes and she wasn't breathing for half an hour." Her hair shimmered as she shook her head, "The worst stories though are the ones she tells about her exes. I don't know what to believe when I'm around her. It's just funny to hear her talk about things she doesn't understand; medical things being one of those. I feel tempted to correct her every time, but why should I? I think I'd rather see her caught in her own lies than to provide her with ammo."

"That's so nice of you; it's good to see you're getting along well in those friendship classes you've been taking." _David_ pushed himself off the wall surrounding the school and walked up to his sister who frowned at his comment. She didn't even wait for him to get close enough, she just pushed off on her left leg and kicked him with her right to send him smack into the wall. She landed and snorted at him before tossing her head, sticking her nose in the air slightly.

"There's no label on me anywhere that says 'nice'." She strode off, but not before her brother got back to his feet and began to chase her down.

"Last one to Urahara's gets the last pickin's for sparring partners!" He hollered as he raced past her. She stopped walking and leaned to one side, putting a hand on her hip.

"Ha! You think you can outrun me? You can't outrun a cheetah!"

Her brother turned and ran backwards, "Oh ho! Getting' cocky now are we? You can eat my dust!" He turned again and sprinted off.

"Are you going to run after him, Jamie?" Rukia stood at her side.

"Why run when I can fly? He can try and catch me if he wants but running is what my long legs are for." She crouched and pushed off, her legs moving her forward incredibly fast.

Tier leaned into the others, "I guess she's not just fast using that ability of hers."

"Ah," Rukia watched her fairly new friend get farther and farther away. "We should catch up to her though."

Grimmjow Sonídoed a few steps forward which earned a few raised eyebrows. "Come on, there's nobody around here to see us. I wanna see who wins."

When they arrived a few feet away from the shop, Jamie was already speeding up to them. "Cheaters," she accused with a grin. Her chest wasn't even heaving but it was obvious her heart was pounding as it pushed against the fabric of her shirt forcefully. She put her hands on her hips and leaned against a wall to watch for her brother. When he came into sight, his speed was the same but it looked like it was taking its toll on him. He stopped in front of her out of breath and supported himself on his knees.

"Curse you."

"I told you, you can't outrun a cheetah."

"Tch. Whatever."

"Aww," she put her hands on her knees and squatted next to him. "Look who's bein' a baby because he lost. Oh, sad day. It's so sad. Poor baby's butt-hurt."

"Shut up!" He knocked her over but she flipped back onto her feet and stood next to him again.

"Come 'ere." She held his head on her shoulder and stroked his face with one hand. "Sh, sh. It's ok, it's ok. It's all right, nobody cares."

"Get out a here!" He pushed her off again only to earn a laugh from the girl that he towered over by 8 inches.

They turned around the corner to see the front of the shop. A figure that strongly resembled Jamie except for her silvery hair which shimmered in the sunlight like strands of tinsel leaned against the wall parallel to the side of the shop. She was dressed in the same form-fitting top as Jamie and her brother wore for training sessions along with the same style of pants Jamie favored. Gauchos, they believed she'd called them. Her yellow eyes were narrowed harshly on the winner of the race and a growl rang in her throat. The doors of the shop slid open to reveal Hat-and-Clogs holding his fan in front of his face. The Shinigami were behind him.

"Is everything all right, Jamie-san?"

"I'm sorry, Urahara-san," her eyes never leaving her opponents face, "can we take this down to the basement?"

"Of course."

* * *

Everybody got out of the way as the pair descended the ladder into the awaiting battle ground. Nnoitra and Kenpachi stopped mid-fight to see who the newcomers were this time. When they saw Jamie was among them, they both slung their weapons on their shoulders with grins sprouting on their faces, forgetting about their fight, for now. Soul Society had been clearly contacted; every Captain and Lieutenant was there except for Yamamoto's Lieutenant who had remained to keep order of Seireitei until the Captain-Commander's return. Even the other Espada had finally arrived after Nnoitra had gone to Las Noches to tell the others about Jamie. Everybody was there. There was an extremely awkward silence.

"You have soiled my honour," was the girl's first words. It was odd her voice wasn't the same as Jamie's, they looked so alike.

"You have broken my honor," Jamie responded casually.

"You have no honour!"

"You spell honor like a Brit!"

"Have at you!"

Then the new girl sprang.

Jamie didn't move a muscle until her attacker's fist was a foot away. She reached out with her left index finger, touched the inside of the other girl's right fist about to hit her face and pushed it to the left of her body. The momentum of the girl's attack shifted but she swung her leg around to hit Jamie's face. Again, on the defensive, Jamie raised her right arm and blocked the leg. The silver-haired girl flipped backwards and paused. She raised a Native American battle cry and lunged again. Jamie dodged and dodged, back flipped and rolled out of the way but still her enemy advanced.

Blood dripped on the ground.

Jamie's bottom lip was split down the middle. She licked her lips and touched her mouth with her finger before examining it. She glanced back up and smirked. That's where the fun began. Now Jamie rushed her copy and the two started their intricate dance. Ichigo thought that Jamie was quick in her fight with him but now he saw that she really _had_ been holding back. Now she twirled and spun while maintaining her footing, and her grin, as she punched and kicked this girl who screamed her battle cry with every lunge and flip. He couldn't pick up every hit, but he figured the two were about even. Their speed was incredible, even without Sonído or Shunpo. Everybody was unsure if they should aid or not-excepting Kenpachi and Nnoitra of course who only cared about fighting whoever won-or if they even could.

"PAUSE!" Jamie's brother shouted.

The pair froze instantaneously and separated. "You know, I'm kinda hungry."

The girl who had just been trying to beat Jamie to death patted her own stomach. "Yea, me too."

"Urahara-san has some food upstairs."

"Sweet! Let's go!" The two locked arms and skipped to the ladder together.

Their crowd was dumbfounded; their jaws hung open and finally Ichigo said what they all were thinking, "What?"

* * *

Soooooo, to describe the "twin's" banter: She's actually based on one of my friends and she demanded I put in a little dialogue blip from a video called "Tiny Plaid Ninjas". So I did, much to her amusement. She also thought it would be immensely humorous to have her character be the obnoxious fighter with her war cry while Jamie is silent. Hopefully this chapter was just as enjoyable as the rest!


	6. Going to Home, Sweet Home

Chapter 6

The couple returned shortly after eating, laughing and joking with each other much to the misunderstanding of the crowd. Jamie continued walking even after her partner had stopped a few feet behind her. She clasped her hands behind her back and lowered herself from her toes.

"So why'd you come here, Dawn? It's been a while since I saw you." She spun on both her heals to have her face full on slapped by the girl who had moved swiftly and silently. Jamie's face turned in the direction of the slap but she didn't stagger nor did she cry out. Simply took it and turned to face the other girl with the red mark on her face, and spots of blood appeared from wear the girl's nails had hit.

"You left without me, you bitch!" She grasped Jamie around the throat with both hands and lifted her into the air.

Ichigo reached for Zangetsu and others moved to grab the hilts of their swords but her brother held an arm in front of them and shook his head for them to not interfere. Jamie didn't kick or struggle, simply hung limp from the other woman's grasp 4 feet above the ground. Her hands were trying to pry off the death grip around her neck and she appeared to be holding her breath.

"You brought Riley to Japan and not me! What the hell is wrong with you?" She let go of Jamie and let her bodily to the ground. She stood over her as Jamie coughed and tried to breathe again at the same time. "I can't believe you'd rather take that ugly ho rather than me."

"I didn't really have a choice," Jamie glared up at her as she rasped. "Besides, I thought I'd have gone back by now."

Dawn hauled her up by the hair and held her up to her face. "If you leave without me again I'll tell your uncle."

Jamie's eyes got wide, "You wouldn't dare."

"Oh, I would. In fact, I know his number; I can call him right now. After all, he doesn't know you've left the States does he? You just told him you were going on a trip for school and let him believe you were going to Washington again, didn't you?"

The blond dropped her head, "I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Eh? I didn't hear you," it came out almost as a song.

"I said 'I'm bloody sorry'!" Jamie yelled in her face.

Dawn let go of her hair, "That's more like it. Now, when we get to the hotel I'm going to color the walls with Riley's blood if she says anything she shouldn't."

"No, don't do that; you'd be wasting your energy."

"You're right; maybe I'll have a bit of fun with her first."

Jamie fixed her hair with a couple good shakes of her head, "Could you at least wait until we're back home to do that?"

"Pff, I suppose."

"Jamie-san, I didn't know you had a twin," Orihime looked back and forth between the previously fighting look-alikes.

The girls studied each other's faces with confused looks before looking back, pointing at one another with a thumb and saying in unison, "She's not my twin."

"Really? But you two look almost the same."

"How?" They copied each other's movements and tone of voice exactly. "We look nothing alike!"

Rukia shook her head; they looked as much alike as Ichigo looked like Kaien Shiba. She could tell this was going to be an interesting pairing. The only question now was whether or not their personalities were as similar as their looks.

Duskrider shook his head, "You two need to stop doing that."

"Stop doing what?"

"Talking at the same time like that! It's creepy."

"You're just jealous you're not as talented as us!" Duskrider appeared behind them without a sound but the "twins" closed their eyes in annoyance and raised their fists that were closest together and tapped the air in front of his face with a knuckle. The man was pushed backwards by an unseen force; shoving him and making him tumble to almost 30 feet away. Dawn and Jamie didn't even open their eyes; just fist pounded each other with the fists that sent him flying.

Dawn opened her eyes and started laughing. Jamie glanced at her with one glowing eye. "You always did hang out with interesting people, sister. Gee, I wonder who you could be fond of. Orange always was your favorite color."

"Shut up," the blond had her arms crossed over her chest and her lids were still closed. Her cheeks didn't show any signs of blush but her voice only came out as a mutter.

"Oi, kid what's your name?"

"Me?"

"Is there another boy with orange hair here? Yes, you."

"Ichigo Kurosaki."

A nod was the only response as her eyes swept over the rest of the onlookers. "Ohmygosh! Pineapple!" Dawn opened her arms as she looked at Renji. "Ha! It's a fruit salad!"

There was a slap sound as Jamie smacked her hand to her face and left it there. "What is it with you and making nicknames for people?"

"Because the names I make for them are so much better than the ones they have and catchy." She continued studying each person in turn and giving them a name, or passing over them if she couldn't think of a proper one at that moment. Her eyes stopped on Nnoitra, "Spoon!"

"What'd ya call me?"

She jumped and landed in between him and Kenpachi. "You two look strong like you've beaten a lot of guys. I wanna fight the both of you."

"Huh?" Kenpachi's bells tinkled as he shifted to look down at her.

"Ha!" "Spoon" leaned down into Dawn's face, "You think you can take on even one of us?"

"Of course. Hell, I'll take on the two of you right now!"

"Bring it on!" The battle-crazy men readied themselves and began to release some reiatsu.

"Dawn." Jamie's voice had the hint of warning in it as she glared at her from under her eyelashes.

"Aw, come on. I haven't had a good fight in a long time. You told me they're good but I want to see just how good for myself."

"You can find out later. You-"

"How many are there, Dawn?" Duskrider was on his feet again, not showing any sign that he was just rammed into a boulder by two girls other than the dust on his clothes.

"What are you talking about?"

"How many ghosts are there? Our sister refuses to tell me."

"Aw, poor Duskrider. For once the Beta wishes he could see the spirits? Tell me, brother, are you still hitting on our sister?"

"Shut up, loner."

Dawn growled and lunged at him, landing on his chest and forcing him to the ground. "What was that?" She bared her teeth at him and her growl grew more vicious as she crouched and her hackles rose. Duskrider leapt to his feet and copied the gestures. Both of them looked as if they were ready to rip each other's throats out. Like wolves. Then both of their eyes glowed more brightly for an instant and they both dropped their heads as if they'd been slapped. Duskrider said something under his breath and the momentary guilt vanished from Dawn's face as she growled again.

"I said that's enough!" Jamie's voice was a whisper but it cut like a knife. The two almost-combatants jumped to either of Jamie's sides and placed one fist on the ground as they bowed their heads.

"Forgive me, sister."

"Now, will you tell me the purpose of you coming here, Dawn? Hopefully not purely just to insult Duskrider."

Light reflected off the silver hair as Dawn rose, creating a mini light show. "The Elders sent me to get you. They didn't tell me why; just to get you."

"They never do," Jamie sighed. "They enjoy keeping me guessing. It keeps me on my toes. How long do I have?"

"Well they said three days from the time that I find you, which because of my superior tracking skills was a piece of cake and I found you three hours after I got off the plane in Tokyo. Seriously, if you were trying to hide your scent, you failed horribly. You have no idea how easy it is to find your smell, Jamie. Anyway, I found your hotel this morning but you were at school so I followed your scent here."

Orihime spoke up, "So you have to be on your way back in three days?"

"No, I have to be back in America in three days. Dawn found me this morning which means today counts as the first day. Getting all the paperwork saying that Riley and I are being transferred back home will take at least a day. Then the plane ride and driving home will be the third day. Just thinking about it exhausts me." She looked utterly bored. "I'm sorry to disappoint all of you. Especially you, Yamamoto-san; I'm sure you had questions you wanted to ask of me."

"Hmph, I suppose this is what we can expect from the person who got us out of Hell." Baraggan shook his head, "You never promised us help then and now the moment we come to see what you really look like, you're off again. Nnoitra told us that you said you were the daughter of two Shinigami. Is that why you won't help us? Because that's where your loyalties lie?"

"The reason why I got you out of Hell after Dragis gave you his offer was because I wasn't going to help people who didn't want to be free. When you decided to go through with it, I stepped in. I had been after Dragis for some time, but I had gotten word that the necromancer had gone into Hell. I hadn't planned on running into the Espada but I did. I have no loyalty to Soul Society, nor do I oppose it. The only reason I knew what my parents were was because of my grandparents who fled from Soul Society a couple centuries ago. If you want my help then you'll follow me back to America but I won't force you. How much you hate Aizen depends on how much effort you put into training to kill him. Dawn, Duskrider." The two jumped to their feet and stood rigid as soldiers might in front of a superior officer. "It's time to-"

**Vvvvvv. Vvvvvvv.**

"Gosh, if it's Riley I swear…." She answered. "Hello?"

"YOU LEFT WITHOUT ME AGAIN!" The voice screamed from the other end making Jamie hold the phone a good distance from her ear and squint in pain.

"I'm sorry. David wanted to race with me. It's taken us a little longer than I imagined. Did you have fun with your friends?"

"I don't give a fuck what David wants, it's almost dark outside. I don't want you to wind up with another concussion so get your ass back to the hotel!"

"Give me that." Dawn swiped the cell from Jamie's palm, "You fuckin' talk to Jamie that way again and I'll beat your ass worse than last time, you asshole."

Silence. "Dawn?" the voice was timid and a lot quieter.

"You know it, skank. It seems you forgot what I told you the last time you treated Jamie the way you did."

"I-I'm just w-worried about her is all."

"Worried about her my ass! She's not your slave or somebody you can push around. Why don't you find a boy that's into that screamo crap you listen to and cuts themselves like you do and leave Jamie the fuck alone! Now we're going back to America tomorrow and I really don't give a shit if you come with us or not but if I hear a peep outta you to Jamie that I don't like, I'll curb stomp you. Got it? Bye-bye." She pressed a button on the phone and handed it back to Jamie whose eyes couldn't have possibly gotten any bigger. "She touches you and I'll bust her head in."

"Was that really necessary, Dawn? I think you've scared our sister nearly as much as you scared that pesky human." Despite his comment, Duskrider stood with his arms crossed and an extremely amused expression on his face.

"I'm not scared," Jamie straightened and her serene face made the statement believable. "It's just surprising to hear Dawn cuss so much. Remind me not to piss you off."

"Technically, you already did when I found out you were gone and didn't take me with you," the light shining off Dawn's hair gleamed on Jamie's pale skin. "If you want, I can take care of the paper work. It would probably be better if an adult talked to the school officials anyways."

"Hey! I'm an adult too, doofus!"

"You're not nearly as old as her by, oh a couple hundred years," Duskrider shrugged.

"Look who's talkin', baby face. You're not even half my age." Dawn put her fists on her hips and leaned into his face.

The two continued to quarrel with each other, though a lot more playfully than they had been. Jamie blew her bangs out of her face with a bored expression which made it look like she could've just dropped asleep right there. Then a twinkle came into her eyes and she sauntered off towards the ladder silently. She had already jumped up to the hatch in one leap from the ground by the time Dawn finally turned around to talk to her "twin".

"Oi! Don't leave me here again, you butthead! Thanks a lot, stupid," she glared at her brother before racing after Jamie.

"Hey! I'm not stupid."

"Yes, you are!" she hollered over her shoulder.

"I'll get you for that!"

"Yea, right!"

When the sound of their taunts finally died Ichigo felt he was more confused than the last time he and Jamie talked. Was there no end to the possible questions? How is it that a girl his age could be so mysterious? He shook his head. He'd probably never know. Grimmjow leaned in close.

"And I thought you were weird. If that's her family, I'd hate to see what her parents are like."

"She said she didn't know her dad, stupid. And I'm not weird!"

Grimmjow snorted. "Whatever. I'm goin' with her."

"Not until you clean up the mess you left in my room."

"Tch. Whatever, strawberry." He hopped off the boulder and Sonídoed after her.

"OI!"

* * *

"What? You're going away, Grimmjow-kun?" Yuzu looked like she was about to cry after hearing the news and now she gazed up the blue-haired man like a puppy.

He patted her head. "Don't worry. I'll be back to bug your brother in no time."

"No, you won't."

"You wish, strawberry."

"Where are you going?"

"I'm not really sure yet but I'll make sure to bring something back for ya." _Anything to make you love me and piss off Ichigo._

Her face brightened and she bounced a little. "Really?"

"Yea, a souvenir. I'll get ya somethin' nice."

"Oh, you don't have to."

"I know but I'll do it anyway. I'll even bring somethin' for your brother."

"Don't even think about it," Ichigo stood with his arms crossed over his chest as he glowered at the Espada.

"That's not very nice, Onii-chan. Grimmjow-kun's just trying to do something nice."

"Yea, Ichigo, try not to be so tense." He gripped Ichigo's shoulder. "I gotta go pack."

"You come too close to my sister, I'll kill you," he shot at him once his door was shut.

"Relax, _Onii-chan_. I'm not gonna do anythin' to her."

"She likes you. She's been humming as she does the housework ever since you came here."

"That must kill you, strawberry, to know your sister has a crush on me." His large canines were visible as he flashed a mischievous grin.

"Not when I know you'll be gone for who knows how long. It must kill you to know that Jamie's brother's been hitting on her."

Grimmjow's face turned red and he grabbed Ichigo's shirt by the collar and slammed him into the wall. "I told you not to comment on that, Shinigami."

"Aw, brotherly love; if only the world had more of it."

Both of men turned their attention to the open window. Jamie was perched on the sill, one leg dangling precariously out the window. She grinned openly at them as if she knew both their secrets. Grimmjow let go of the boy he nearly just murdered and leaned uncomfortably against the closet door and Ichigo rubbed at his neck where he felt the Espada would've surely wrapped his hands to strangle him to death. He fixed some things on the desk, trying desperately not to look awkward.

"What are you doing here, Jamie?"

"I was in the neighborhood. I wanted to see who all was coming with me. I have a feeling that I'm going to be the only one able to pay for plane tickets. I take it you're coming with, Grimmjow? You look ready to leave."

"Yea, I was just seeing if I needed anything else."

"You won't. Any clothes you might need for your gigai I'll pay for when we get to the States. It's probably a good thing you're not coming, Ichigo; you've been away from your family enough as it is. Though I have to say, I am slightly disappointed I won't get to kick your butt anymore."

"You could always visit."

She shook her head. "After this my Elders will most likely give me boring work meant to do nothing but turn my brain to jelly. I probably won't have free time to come to Japan for the next twenty years." She blew air out the side of her mouth in faint annoyance then yawned with her mouth open and her tongue out like a cat. "Just thinking about it makes me wanna sleep for a week. But maybe I'll be able to send stuff over from time to time."

"What are your Elders like anyway?"

"Like parents, I guess." She shrugged. "They don't badger me with questions though, which is nice; unlike my aunt who's sure to do just that when I get back. Ugh, I'm not looking forward to that. Somebody please shoot me." She rested her head on the window frame and looked out at the sky. "The Elders took me in after I had wandered around, not sure where to go or who to turn to. They showed me how to fight for myself." She stretched and popped her back in the process. A sigh escaped her lips.

"Are you all right?"

"Mh hmm. I needed that. Actually, to tell the truth, I've been dying for somebody to work out all these knots in my back and shoulders that won't go away but all the people that would do it without me even asking are back home. I don't want to ask Duskrider; he's already my servant as it is. Oh well, I'll be back there soon enough. I'll probably get some new knots on the plane ride home. Especially if there are babies on board. Dear lord, kill me if that happens. 'Cause if not, I have a feeling there's gonna be one angry mom."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm gonna splatter that baby on the other side of the cabin. Babies are cute when they're not yours and they're not screaming bloody murder. My cousins were like that; they'd wake up in the middle of the night screaming like somebody was cutting their hearts out with a spoon and my aunt and uncle would have to walk around the couch for at least an hour before they'd go back to sleep."

"I take it you don't like kids."

"Oh, I love kids, just as long as they're not mine." She pointed at herself with both index fingers. "This is not having any children. Not over my dead body. That and I can't." She whipped out her phone and checked the time. "Well, if you do decide to come, Ichigo, and get some answers from my Elders, just come with Grimmjow when we leave. And please, try not to kill each other. It would be such a waste for two hot guys to fight before they get their first woman." She smirked and slid out the window.

"Oi!" Ichigo leaned out the window with Grimmjow beside him but there was nobody around, just a dog walking along the street.

Grimmjow straightened his clothes, "Are ya comin', Ichigo?"

"Yes, damn it. Now she's really making me curious. But I'll need to tell the family first."

"I can do it," Grimmjow broke the news downstairs but Ichigo didn't hear Yuzu crying so he wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad sign. His door opened and shut again and the sexta Espada leaned casually against the wall. "They said have a nice trip." He gestured to Ichigo's suitcase. "Need some help?"

"Sure." He was halfway through packing when a thought dawned on him. "Wait, did she call us hot?"

He received a grin in response.

* * *

Planes whoosed by outside as the group waited for Jamie. She hadn't said what time they should be there but they figured fairly early. Ichigo hadn't expected everybody to come. His group was all ready to go and sat anxiously waiting for their adventure. The four Espada with gigais sat with them-though Grimmjow paced impatiently and Nnoitra was lounging across four chairs, sleeping. The rest, along with the Shinigami would use other means to get there. The Visored had decided to stay where they were. Jamie had said it would look too suspicious if they all went together and no kidding; forty-one people following one girl would cause quite a bit of staring.

A hand clapped his shoulder and Rukia's, who was next to him. "Hey, Strawberry, we're over here." Dawn smiled down at them and directed her thumb over her shoulder at a table where Duskrider was sitting. "I can't believe you've been sitting over here the entire time without noticing us. You're not great at observation are you?" She shook her head as she headed back to the table and the others followed her. Duskrider had his legs crossed and propped up on the table as he was drawing a picture in a sketch book on his lap. Ichigo noticed they weren't wearing their usual attire; that they actually looked like normal adolescents now.

Dawn wore a pair of black boots that covered her ankles and elevated her by at least three inches, a black skirt that came down to just above her knees, a white, shoulderless, short-sleeved top with a teal butterfly on the front along with splatters of other colors, and a gray hoodie a white "21" on the back. Duskrider sported dark jeans, a T-shirt that said "I'm not a doctor but I'll take a look anyway", skater shoes and a baseball cap that he wore a tad bit off to one side. Dawn flicked it off his head as she walked by and seated herself in a padded chair on the side of the table adjacent to the side he was sitting on. He muttered something under his breath angrily as he swiftly flipped the notebook to the cover page and scooped his hat off the floor. Dawn let herself get comfy by putting her legs up in the chair next to her and grinned at her brother. There were bags sitting in two of the chairs.

"Where's Jamie?"

"In the bathroom with dumbass," Dawn rested her chin on her knuckles with her elbow on the arm of the chair.

"I thought we had changed her nickname to 'looks-like-an-ass'," Duskrider commented, a little confused.

"If I had a donkey that looked like her I'd make it walk backwards."

He sucked air in through his teeth, "That's harsh."

"You don't have any room to talk; you haven't seen her without all that makeup on."

"She doesn't look like she puts that much on."

Dawn raised an eyebrow him as if she couldn't believe he could be that stupid. "Just ask Jamie when you get her alone. That poor thing's probably scarred for life by that image."

"You're a cold woman, you know that?"

His sister shrugged, looking off somewhere out of the upper corner of her eye as one might when pretending to be innocent, before looking back at him with a smirk. "What can I say? I _am_ a bitch." She winked at him and contented herself to watching the passing people.

"Ow! That's my foot!" Jamie exclaimed in English.

"Maybe you should watch where you're going next time, loser."

"Maybe I will and I'll step on _your_ foot."

Riley put on a pathetic sad face. "That wouldn't be very nice."

"Just like calling me a loser isn't." _Bam,_ Dawn thought. _I love Jamie's use of reverse psychology_.

"You're still a loser."

Dawn stood slowly from the chair, cracking her knuckles on the table top before raising herself to her full, and now enhanced, height. Riley's jaw tightened when she saw the gesture but she raised her chin defiantly as Jamie's twin closed the gap. Jamie stepped in between them with her hands in her jacket pockets. Dawn stopped just in front of her.

"What'd you just call my best friend?" She tossed over the blond's shoulder.

"I can call her whatever I want. She's my friend too."

"Really? 'Cause right now she looks a lot like a shield to me. I haven't seen you treat Jamie as anything other than a mat that you wipe your filthy feet on. You talk tough around people your own age who only see a girl who's ready to take on anybody that messes with her but they don't see the pathetic life sucker you are."

Jamie raised her hands and faced a palm towards each girl. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa…whoa. Violence."

Dawn scowled at her. "I haven't even touched the bitch yet but I'm about to if she keeps this up."

"Come at me, bitch! I can take you right now. I ain't scared of ya."

"If you're going to fight, at least wait 'til we're back home, ok? At the airport where there's security probably isn't the best place for this."

The girls in front and behind her sniffed in contempt and Dawn shot one more glare at her rival. "You're lucky Jamie likes you, 'cause if not your head would've been through that wall."

"You're only talking 'cause you're wearing high heels. Your face would be bleeding like hell."

"Are you sure about that?"

Jamie stepped from between them, grabbed each by the back of their heads and slammed their foreheads together like she had with Ichigo and Grimmjow. The impact made an awful sound, a combination of a sort of smack and thud.

Immediately clutching their faces, both yelled in English, "Motherfucker!"

Jamie had her hands on her hips again, "Huh, it seems that you both have the same lack of filter for your cussing. Now, if you can't behave yourselves while I go buy tickets," she pointed at Riley, "I'll make you listen to Japanese music." She switched the direction of her finger to Dawn, "And I'll make you sit on David's lap for an hour, during which you have to say nice things to him and you're not allowed to hurt him in anyway shape or form during that time and two weeks on. Got it?" Both girls' eyes were the size of compact mirrors as they nodded quickly and shortly. "Good. I'll be back. David, if they so much as look at each other, prepare the duct tape."

"Yes, ma'am." He bit his lip as the girls sat down across from each other at the table and Jamie walked over to the line. Neither of the two in question said a word, just stared at anything but another person or one another. Finally, Duskrider put his feet to the floor and shifted in the chair. "I'm glad she's my sister and not my mother."

"Yes, but it would still be incest. You'd just be a literal mother effer."

"For the last time, I'm not hitting on her."

"Your embarrassment the last time I asked that question declared the opposite of your statement."

"That's because it's awkward for someone to accuse you of hitting on your sister. Especially when she's years younger than you."

"Oh, so if she were your twin, it would be ok?"

"You're sick that you actually think about this stuff."

Dawn shrugged. "You're the one who thought of being with her."

"I'm not even going to argue with you it's that gross."

"Uh huh, that's what I thought. What was that you were drawing? Was it her?"

"No, as a matter of fact it wasn't. And no, I'm not going to show you as proof. It's something entirely different that I'd be mortified for you to look at." Dawn made a grab for the book but he snagged it first and held it to his chest. "It's ugly, don't look at it. I don't want you judging my drawing skills."

"Nobody's judging you, dimwit." The name was said with a sort of endearment as Jamie rested her hand on his head and presented the tickets to the group. "First class; the plane should be ready in about…three, two, one," she pointed a finger at a speaker which, on cue, called for their flight. She swept her belongings over her shoulder and everyone else followed the example. "This way!"

She led them down a separate hallway which had glass on either side and ended in a door guarded by one man in a very nicely pressed suit. Although his hair was a light gray, his face betrayed no sign of age, as he looked only about 40 years old or so, with nicely tanned skin and only a few wrinkles on his face. He pressed one hand to the bottom of the front of his jacket and put one hand behind his back as he bowed at their approach. "Lady Powell, it's good to see you're in good health," his English was well-spoken and held a tint of a London accent.

"You're looking quite good yourself, Rupert. This is everybody."

"Of course, of course. If you'll follow me, milady." He opened the door and the party found themselves on the tarmac. They pressed their hands to their ears, waiting for the screeching of the aircraft to be exponentially louder than inside. After a moment, however, they noticed that the level of sound had remained the same. When they looked in front of them, Jamie winked at them with a knowing smile on her lips. She made small talk with the man, who Dawn and David filled them in was a butler for a good friend of hers; asking after his wife and daughters, asking how their "dear friend was doing stuck at home by himself". They didn't understand some of the English but hopefully she'd help them out with the language during their time with her. A single plane was stationed in front of them with two guards in black suits with black sunglasses covering their eyes stood on either side of the first step of the ramp descending from the plane door. They nodded deeply to Jamie when she came near and said hello to them by name.

The door opened up into the end of a tight hallway, with a small bathroom right across the hall from it. There were a couple small bedrooms down the hall to the left which the guards took their belongings to. To the right, was the main cabin that was shaped in a large oval with a padded bench around the entire circumference. The only breaks in between the bench were the one for the hall, and the one into the cockpit. Small windows were available on either side for the occupants of the plane to gander out at the magnificence of the world far below. Jamie jumped and plopped herself down on the seat to the left of the door to the cockpit, right next to a window where the sunshine came in to seemingly glorify her hair. She stretched out her legs on the cushioning next to her and watched the others file in and pick their seats. Nnoitra, however, was given a bedroom to himself so he could sleep and build up his strength to fight Kenpachi again, (Jamie's idea). It was a good thing too; he probably would've taken up almost an entire long side of the oval with his lounging.

The guards called for a truck to get rid of the ramp before shutting themselves up in another of the rooms. Rupert shut the plane door, tapped the cockpit door and slipped inside. Jamie warned them to hold onto their seat as they took off but neither she, nor her brother and sister appeared to do so or appeared disturbed by the plane lifting off the runway. After the altitude had leveled out, she reached over to console on the part of the bench where she sat that extended into the corner almost like a countertop, tapped something on a touch screen, and a section in the middle of the floor slid open in two directions and a condiment bar eased its way up from under the floor. It contained a variety of juices and flavored water for them to enjoy. When everyone had settled down again, Ishida scrutinized his surroundings.

Pushing up his glasses with a finger, "Just how did you get a plane like this, Jamie-san?"

He earned a grin in response, "I know a guy."

Dawn snorted. "You know a lot of guys." Her voice poked fun at an innuendo.

"Whatever, Dawn. You're just jealous that I know so many rich guys who spoil me, especially since I'm so young."

"Oh, yes, I'm so jealous that you have a bunch of old guys who want to marry you and make you have their children. It sounds like quite the life."

"They all want to be Jamie's pimp." Riley had taken to sitting on the right of the cockpit door. It was close enough to Jamie without giving the impression that she was hiding behind her.

"Hey! I'm not a whore!"

"Whatever. You just keep telling yourself that."

Jamie bounded from her seat to stand over the other girl. She raised her hands up in a "Come at me, bro" gesture. "You wanna go?"

"Yea, right now. Let's go."

"Where are we goin'?"

"Burger King."

"A'ight. Sounds good to me." She lowered herself back to the seat, interlocked her fingers and put them behind her head so she could rest it against the wall behind her. "I didn't really think he'd send somebody to pick me up though."

"What do you mean?" Duskrider looked a little confused. "You didn't know this plane would pick us up?"

"No, actually I didn't. I almost freaked when the lady at the counter told me somebody was there for me until she gave me the note he left for me." She rolled her eyes, "He's always over the top. He said that he would've come and picked me up himself but he knew I had people with me and he'll be satisfied with seeing me safe when I get back."

"Creeper," Dawn sneered. "Why are you friends with these sorts of people?"

"I don't befriend them on purpose! They're just attracted to me. Like bugs to a bug zapper. Weirdoes find me wherever I go, I can't help it."

"I think you've just stopped using your weirdo repellant?"

Jamie raised an eyebrow, "Weirdo repellant?"

"Yes, pretend to have a boyfriend and the weirdoes will leave you alone."

She sucked air in through her teeth. "It doesn't always work that way. In fact, sometimes that only makes them come after me more. The creepers get jealous that I'm taken and start stalking me. I have to remember to close my blinds and check for cameras in my stuff all the time."

"That's just creepy. Maybe if you weren't so pretty, people would leave you alone."

"How is it that _you're_ not stalked? You're totally the prettier one."

"People think silver hair's weird. A lot of guys like blonds so they go for you, smart one. I may be pretty, but you're the attractive one."

"If you two get in this argument again, I swear I'll beat you both with a bat. You look _exactly the same._ You're both gorgeous. Now shut the hell up."

"That is the nicest thing you've ever said to me, David." Dawn patted his hand. "There's hope for you yet."

"Don't antagonize me."

"Yea, cause you're _so_ scary."

"Poor David, getting picked on all the time. Come here, you can sit with me. I won't pick on you _too_ much."

Jamie held her arms open as Duskrider crossed the cabin and curled up on the seat next to her, putting his head in her lap and closing his eyes. She smiled and scratched his head and massaged the back of his neck with a thumb, rubbing it in rhythmic circles.

"You're a lucky bastard, David. Just watch what you touch on her while you're over there. It's still incest any way you look at it."

"Shut up!" her brother and sister told her. Jamie turned to the others. "Arizona is 9 hours behind Tokyo and it's about," she pulled out her phone and checked it, "One o'clock over there. We'll get there around 3ish. So we'll drive you home," she pointed at Riley, "and we'll go to my aunt's and uncle's place or something."

* * *

"Riley!"

"That sounds like your dad. Aaaaaand it is. I guess he called your dad to let him know we were coming."

"If I ever meet this friend of yours, I'm gonna kick his ass."

"Whatever, you get a ride home where you can curl up and go back to sleep. Quit complaining."

"I'm fuckin' tired. See you at school."

"Not if I see you first," Jamie grumbled after her friend had piled in the car. "Anyways, let's get this over with shall we? The Elders are gonna whoop my butt if I'm not there soon."

"Shouldn't we wait for your brother and sister?" Ishida fixed his glasses again.

"What are you talking about? They already left without us. They even took Nnoitra so he wouldn't have to wait to see Kenpachi." The others looked around and noticed there wasn't a pair running after them to catch up. Jamie sighed and started walking down the sidewalk. "The sooner we get there, the sooner you can have answers."

"Wait, I thought you said we were going to your aunt's and uncle's place." Ichigo matched her long stride with his own.

"I said 'we'll go to my aunt's and uncle's place _or something_.' I didn't specify where we were going. I can't lie to humans so I have to create loopholes in my own speech for me to jump through. It's difficult sometimes but effective. Besides, the Shinigami are going to get anxious if the Espada don't show up."

"Yea, weren't we supposed to be meeting them here?"

"Nope. They and the rest of the Espada are already there. While I was speaking with all of you, Dawn and Duskrider were talking with the others. If they were coming, they should keep up with the plane until a certain point where Dawn would message the Elders and tell them it was time."

"Time for what?"

Jamie shoved him with her elbow. "Don't interrupt me when I'm talking or I won't be able to answer your questions!"

"Sorry."

"As I was say_ing_, When it was time, the Elders would release their reiatsu for the others to find and track. That way they wouldn't have to fed up with walking. Adults can be so impatient when they're around younger people."

"How come we didn't feel their reiatsu on the plane?"

"Because the plane's made out of a material that hides reiatsu. Not inhibit, just hide. The maker didn't want anyone to know he was coming or know who was waiting for him. He likes surprises too much for that."

"So how come we have to walk?"

"I trust you more and I didn't want to have to deal with Dawn and Riley being at each other's throats the whole way home with just me and Duskrider watching. Lame excuse but it's all I got. And there's something I need to do first."

"What's that?"

"This way." She disappeared and they looked around, trying to find her. "Over here!" she waved at them from a small distance away. "Come on!" And she disappeared again, this time at least having the courtesy to leave the dimmest of lights where she had been after each step.

She did this until they arrived close to a street light. The red hand across the road warned them that they "shall not pass" until the green walking person blinked on. There was barely any traffic, but there was certainly more than there was in Karakura Town. Finally, they got the signal to go and Jamie hurried over to the other side, not even waiting for the rest of them. There was a fairly large shopping center where she stopped. A sign read "Boston Market" at the corner and entering a turn-in, more shops were visible. Albertsons, Blockbuster, and others none of them had heard of before. Jamie giggled and skipped to a small shop with a green circular sign with a funky shaped lady on it. She opened the door and inhaled deeply with a huge grin on her face before entering. Ichigo was wondering if she'd gotten high on the plane and was just now spazzing out. He and others followed her anyway and stepped inside.

The smell of coffee was a shock to their sinuses but a pleasant one. The sounds of the coffee grinders and espresso machines were loud and obnoxious but Jamie stood in line undeterred. There were tables with padded couches on one side and regular wooden chairs on the other along the right wall. A display case showed pastries, some small, some large; below it, a section of drinks and to-go boxes of sandwiches and salads sat with vents shooting cold air to keep it fresh. The menu was in English so Ichigo had trouble deciphering it as he joined her at her side.

"This is the only one that's open 24 hours. You like coffee?"

"It's not my favorite."

"Hmm. You haven't tried American coffee though or Frappuccino's. You're going to have to try one." A joking smile showed her canines, "Do you like strawberries?"

"You're mocking me."

"I've made it my job to tease you."

"I already have enough people doing that!"

"Calm down. People here aren't used to teens flipping out in Japanese." She turned to the others. "You guys want something?" She narrowed her eyes and pointed at Orihime, "I think I know what you'd like already. Grimmjow, do you like strawberries?"

"Not in the least." He smirked at the ginger in front of him.

"Bastard."

"Hey now, let's keep our language child-appropriate, please." Jamie chided gently.

"I don't see a kid anywhere."

"You're looking at one, dummy."

"Jamie?" the new voice came from behind the counter and sounded very surprised.

"Long time no see, Yazmine." Jamie reverted back to English.

"What can I get you?" the girl's curly red hair hung a little past her shoulders and accented her startlingly bright green eyes which lingered on Ichigo for a while before going back to her friend.

"I really need caffeine right now so I'd like a Venti this time."

"Extra chocolate like always?"

"That has to be the _stupidest_ question you could've asked me."

"I don't know, I could've asked if this is your boyfriend."

"Sure. He's a guy that's a friend." Jamie shrugged.

"That's not what I meant." Yazmine's eyes looked quite annoyed that her question had been evaded.

"I know what you meant and no. This guy wouldn't date me if I threatened to stab him."

"Oh, that's a shame. I like your hair now, by the way. It looks adorable short. I don't think I could pull that off though. Yours just does whatever you want it to; I'm jealous." Her eyes shifted to Ichigo and she displayed her beautifully straight and white teeth, "Can I get _you_ something?"

"I'm sure you could," Jamie whispered in Japanese before raising her voice and looking at Ichigo. "Would you like anything?"

"I think I'll try something strawberry, like you said."

"You want the Venti or the Grande?" she pointed out both.

"Venti's fine."

"One Venti Strawberries and Crème and a-" she leaned in and whispered something in the girl's ear. She pulled out a credit card and handed it to her.

"You got a minute?" Yazmine asked after Jamie was done paying.

She pulled out her phone and checked. "Yea, I got a few."

"Awesome, my break's in a bit."

"Sit down wherever you like. I'll wait for the drinks."

They sat and decided to observe some of the people who kept streaming in while Jamie stood where the drinks were served chatting easily with the barista. Occasionally, someone would say Jamie's name in surprise, they'd embrace and have a pleasant conversation before the person took their leave, or another person recognized the blond. Finally, the maker of the drinks called out each one Jamie had ordered and Rukia jumped up to help her. Jamie gave Orihime her drink and told the others they could feel free to try the strawberry one.

"Mmmm! This is so delicious! What is it?"

"Banana and gingerbread, which I had tried myself one time and it's actually not that bad but I'll stick with my chocolate." She sipped out of her green straw at the drink that was almost completely dark brown with chocolate-drizzle-covered whip cream. She rolled her eyes a bit in happiness and looked at the beverage. "This is _so_ what I needed." She yawned like a cat again and shook her head to try to stop it. She looked behind her and saw Yazmine waiting. "You guys enjoy. Hopefully this won't take too long. If it starts to, please come over and make an excuse to leave. Preferably anybody other than Ichigo or we'll be here even longer."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Beware of that woman," she whispered. "She's a viper." Despite her words, she strolled over to her red-haired friend and they sat across from each other at a table just out of earshot. They seemed to be having a rather serious discussion about something, as there weren't any smiles from either of them.

"Quit hoggin' that, strawberry! She said we could all try it." Grimmjow made for the drink but Ichigo held it out away from him.

"I'm not done with it yet."

"You've already drunk almost half of it!"

"I thought you said you didn't like strawberries, Grimmjow."

"I was meaning you, dumbass."

"Do you not remember what Jamie told you the last time you two were arguing?" Rukia took the drink away from Ichigo and sipped. "Hmm, this is good. Here try some." She handed it to Ishida.

Ichigo lowered his voice, "We weren't talking _that_ loud and besides she's busy talking." The drink finally came back to him with a little more than a fourth of it left. He grumbled but continued drinking it anyway.

"That's not fair! I totally didn't get any!" Grimmjow scowled at the boy across from him.

"It's gross, you wouldn't want it."

"You son of a bitch."

Rukia grabbed the drink from Ichigo and handed it to Grimmjow. "You really should learn how to share. You weren't the one to buy it after all."

Both of bickerers lowered their heads and averted their gazes. "Oh, right."

"Really? Do you two even think about this stuff?"

"Grimmjow rarely thinks at all." Ulquiorra said matter-of-factly

"What'd ya say, Ulquiorra?"

"And apparently doesn't pay attention either."

"That's it!" Grimmjow started to get up.

"That's enough!" Rukia hissed at them.

"Jamie seems to know a lot of people," Orihime's soft voice drew everybody's attention.

They all followed her gaze. Another person was standing over Jamie with their hand on the back of her chair. The man was well dressed, but not fancy, and quite handsome with a charming smile and short, spiky brown hair. Yazmine's eyes seemed to be captured by him, even though he only had eyes for Jamie. He spread his arms and Jamie got to her feet and hugged him. His hold on her was almost overly friendly-his arms wrapped over her back because he was so much taller than her and his hands were on her hips- with the way he held her longer than most of the other people had. When they separated, he gave her a kiss on either cheek before getting in line. Jamie sat down with her face flushed and an uneasy smile on her face but she carried on the original talk with her friend who took the occasional glance at the man.

"Or a lot of people know her," Tier sat with her arms crossed under her breasts as always as she observed everything from over her scarf that covered every part of her face except her eyes.

"It's been a while. I should probably get her out of here." Rukia stood and politely interrupted the two. Jamie looked at her phone and jumped to her feet, apologizing to her friend that they would have to continue some other time. Yazmine shook her head and waved her off, saying it was no big deal. They hurried out of the store and strolled back in the direction of the intersection.

Jamie let out a big sigh. "Thank you, Rukia. You're a life saver."

"No problem."

"Oh! You two, come here." Grimmjow and Ichigo stepped forward and she slammed the sides of their heads together. "I warned you," was all she said as they cursed.

"How am I a life saver?" Rukia had an amused grin on her face as she looked away from the pair.

"I love Yazmine but the last thing I want to listen to is another boyfriend story. If they want someone to talk to, I'll listen but if they want somebody to give them advice, I'm not exactly the person they should be asking."

"Why not? You seem very sensible and honest enough to give someone a good solution to a problem." Rukia titled her head to one side.

"Eh," Jamie shrugged her shoulders, "Not really. I've only dated once and that was very briefly."

"How come?"

She looked back at them, "He cheated on me. It made school immensely awkward after that."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I've long since gotten over it. I haven't seen him in months. He's probably forgotten about me and is on some well-deserving girl right now." She pushed the button at the light and leaned against the pole while they waited. They crossed. "Besides, it's not like I can have a good relationship with someone who can't see spirits when I do what I do." She grinned at them before realization crossed over her face. "Oh, I almost forgot. It's sort of a long way to our destination so somebody should get those who can't use Sonído or Shunpo."

"All right." Ichigo flung Orihime over his shoulder like he had in Hueco Mundo.

"K-Kurosaki-kun! You don't have to carry me!"

"You can't use Shunpo. You're not that heavy to carry."

"Oh," Orihime's cheeks were very red and she was happy nobody could see it in the shadows.

"Wait, how are we supposed to use Sonído in these gigai?" Tier asked.

"Just like you normally do. I'll take a way that nobody uses so they won't see us. Come here Sado, I'll carry you since nobody else is jumping to help you."

The Mexican was taken aback. "You don't have to do that. I can catch up later."

"Nope. No time for that." Jamie walked straight up to him, put on hand in the hollow behind his knees and swept him off his feet. "Wow. You're light for a big guy." She held him like a huge baby, not showing any signs of strain despite the enormous difference in their size. She didn't seem to notice everybody's amazement. She nodded to herself, "Ok, we're good. Let's go."

The dim light she left behind guided the others as she sped ahead with her unusual technique. They flew past street after street, houses upon houses, but after a while, the urban landscape became wilderness. The desert was cool despite the time of year and the air itself felt and smelled cleaner. This changed to roads that wound their way around mountains like a python strangling a multitude of prey. Forests stood tall in the darkness on the sides of mountains, steep and gentle alike, waiting for the sunshine to show them in their majesty. There was the occasional bat, flapping in odd circles trying to catch a bug, but other than that, the world was quiet and asleep. The series of lights led them into the woods and stopped above a huge expanse of trees, pulsating in the air in a small pass between two mountains. They descended as the light did and followed it to where Jamie stood with Chad standing, once again, waiting.

"You guys ready to meet the big, happy family?" she asked cheerily. When there wasn't much of a response, her expression immediately became bored, "Yea, me neither." She exhaled between her lips, "Let's do this." She raised her right arm and leg at the same time in an almost Fascist fashion and carried onward.

* * *

Riley is...an interesting character. Most of the people who have read this say they hate her. Which I suppose is sort of the purpose of her. *shrug* Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this! Next chapter!


	7. Dawn Draws Back the Curtain

Chapter 7

Voices and laughter reached their ears as they neared their unseen destination. Soon, they were able to see a glow coming from in front of them. There were smells of cooking foods; several kinds of meat and vegetables mixing to make a smell which made their stomachs growl. They stepped into a clearing and Jamie halted to take it all in and let the others do the same. The clearing itself was huge-they couldn't even see the edges of it- and Jamie's "people" were utilizing all of the available space. There were tents everywhere. It was a fairly orderly setup, with clusters of about 10 in a circle around a fire, spaced out enough so there was room to have three people walk between them comfortably. Ichigo had to admit, he hadn't known what to expect but when he was walking he had somewhat pictured the people living in teepees. However, the make-shift houses these people did have were the large tents used for camping for extended periods of time, some of them being the 6-people tents. Even if he thought those tents were big, though, there was a tent in the center of the camp which demanded a person's eyes immediately. At first, he had thought it was a circus tent without the huge peaks at the top, but there weren't any spotlights of any sort.

"Home sweet home."

"Where are we going?"

"To the Elders' tent. That's probably where everybody else is."

Before they took another step, people from around the fires froze where they sat, or stood, and stared at them. They all had the same glowing yellow eyes Jamie, her brother and sister had. Finally, one person let go of the spoon they were stirring the contents of their cook pot with and began clapping. Others followed the example. Soon, the group had a row of cheering people on either side of them. As Jamie walked between them, men, women and children alike placed their right fists over their hearts and bowed deeply at the waist. They murmured something the group couldn't hear but the tone suggested it was a title of the person they respected. Jamie smiled and waved to all of them and occasionally paused to shake someone's hand or pat a child on the head who giggled excitedly afterward with a huge gleaming smile.

The applause died down as they neared the tent because the people were going back to their fires and continuing their conversations. Children resumed their games and laughter, though there were a couple small groups which huddled together and curiously watched them with their luminescent orbs. Jamie stood in front of the entrance flap and not three seconds went by before Duskrider held it open for them to pass through. Everyone sat in a huge oval shape on a comfortable rug, which didn't even encompass half of the tent, with food and beverages in the middle. Baraggan and Yamamoto sat stiffly across from each other; Nnoitra sat next to Kenpachi along with Yammy who chatted easily with Ikkaku; Starrk and Lilynette sat with Ukitake and Shunsui; Kurotsuchi and Szayel were talking about experiments they'd done. Ichigo and the others filled in the gap left available to them.

Jamie's eyes brightened a moment and dimmed down again. "Let's go." Dawn rose and went outside.

"Wait, go where?"

"To meet with the Elders and set up your tents. Oh, and if you're going to kill each other, please do it outside."

Duskrider let the flap fall behind him as he followed her.

* * *

Less than 15 minutes later, Dawn returned alone. She flopped herself down onto a cushion next to her basket full of sewing supplies. Her hands moved even faster than Ishida's so within less than a minute, she had a completed shirt in her hands. She laid it aside and began on another.

"Um, where's Jamie-san?" Orihime leaned toward her.

Dawn looked up without stopping the movements of her hands. "Still with the Elders and Duskrider. I'm only allowed to be a part of the meetings at all because I'm Jamie's right hand."

"You're not allowed to be with them?"

The delicate hands hesitated in the middle of the third shirt and she sighed. "I believe you all need some explaining since the Elders probably won't tell you much and Jamie will only say what she's permitted to say since she's already told you more than enough already."

"Really?"

Again, the hands halted and Dawn looked at Orihime as if to say "Are you really _that_ clueless?" She shook her head, her hair sending sparkles along the walls from the light shining on her locks. Her rhythm resumed. "Humans, dead or alive, aren't supposed to know about us. So when Jamie got the Espada out of Hell, it was bad enough because she planted curiosity in their hearts. Staying in Japan and purposely letting you find her increased the severity of her sentence. But let me finish and you should have your some questions answered. Though you'll probably also have even more. First off: do any of you have any ideas as to what we are?"

Ishida pushed his glasses back with three fingers. "Your eyes glow, you talk about scent and you growl at each other. My assumption would be that you have lived your lives among wolves."

"Right and wrong. We _are_ wolves."

"Then why are you in this human form?" Rukia asked, intrigued.

"Thousands of years ago, when man first began to hunt us, we realized that they would survive better than we would. So, we transformed. Only a few decades ago, the number of wolves was very small in some places, or at least that's what humans were led to believe. There are some of us who would never stoop their pride to change into a human. Those stay on reservations so humans can monitor their numbers and feel that they're helping the wolf population. The rest of us live like this," she gestured to the tent," or with Indian tribes as one of them, or closely among other humans. We're born knowing how to change into this form but sometimes running free on four legs is much better. I suppose you could call us shape-shifters."

"So all of the people here are wolves?" Ishida sipped at his steaming cup.

"Ah, everyone."

"Even Jamie-san?" Orihime's high-pitched voice pissed Dawn off every time she heard it but she knew had to be nice to this girl. For now.

"Jamie's the exception. She's human. Or at least _was_. We found her when she was young and took her in. The Elders went through some process that made Jamie change fully within a week. Now, she's one of us. She has the senses of a wolf now. She's kept her philosophical personality while becoming confident and strong enough to whoop a whole lot o' ass while lacking the strive for power that many humans and animals have. Secondly, we need to discuss ranking. The Elders, of course, are the oldest wolves alive. The oldest of them all is the Eldest, obviously, and for now, that's the only thing you need to know her as. There are 7 Elders; the Eldest changes between male and female but the other six are a constant three female, three male. This way there are different opinions from both genders but neither is overpowering. They are the most powerful and besides me, are the only wolves here that can see spirits. Most children have been known to see spirits as well but that ability gradually fades away as they mature.

"As you probably all know, wolves travel and live in packs, normally of family members. That's how the tents are set up outside; each cluster is a pack. The top dog in each pack, pardon the expression, is called the 'Alpha'. He shares that title with his mate. Or it could be a female Alpha without a mate. Either way, they're the strongest of their pack. Jamie is technically an Alpha but she doesn't have a pack since she's human so she's the oddball. The next down is the Betas; that's what Duskrider is. Then there's Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, yada yada, blah, blah, blah. It depends on how many are in the pack. The last and weakest in the pack, however—doesn't matter how many there are in the pack, could be twenty-five or seven—is always titled 'Omega'. It's horribly degrading to call a wolf an Omega when they hold a higher title and will probably start a fight."

"So, 'Omega' is the lowest ranking a wolf could have, right?" Ichigo munched on some of the sweet bread from a basket in the middle of the rug. Dawn could slightly see why Jamie liked him; his hair looked light and fun to play with, he was a good listener when he wanted to be and was muscular without looking like a uterus like heavy weight champions tended to. She still would have to find a way to have a serious girl talk though.

She concentrated on her shirt-making and tried not to look guilty. "No, there's a rank below them but they don't have titles. Lone wolves have no rank technically. 'It's better to be a deer than a loner' somebody said one time. And, sadly, it's true. Don't get me wrong, there are strong lone wolves but they're still treated like garbage compared to Omegas."

"What rank are you, Dawn-san?"

She knew Orihime would ask that question. She'd been dreading it but at least Duskrider wasn't here to rub it in her face or Jamie, who would just give her a sad look that said, "I still love you, no matter what title you hold." That would kill her. "I'm a lone wolf." She could smell their shock and it stung. They were expecting her to be someone great. When she finally brought up her gaze, many of them avoided her eyes. Rukia still looked at her but not sadly.

"You're strong enough to rival Jamie without a blade and even here, you hold your head high. You don't walk around with your nose to the ground just because your society says you don't have a rank. I respect you."

This had to be the nicest noble Dawn had ever met in her life. She wasn't snobby or frivolous. In fact, she'd probably be an excellent friend to have. "Thank you." Jamie most likely liked her too. They _definitely_ needed a girl talk.

Words bubbled out of Orihime again, "That's right! You're just as good as Jamie is, if not better. Ranks don't make the person anyways."

_That had to be the most philosophical thing you've ever said._ So tempting. "True but often they can change a person. The next thing you should probably know about is our life span. We aren't immortal like the Bounts are-"

"Were," Kurotsuchi corrected.

"_Are,_" Dawn pronounced through clenched teeth. Seriously, these guys thought they knew everything. "But we're close to it. Our life spans are very long but we do die eventually. Either by getting killed, getting really sick, or just old age. For instance, Duskrider's 193 years old."

Orihime made a sound of awe, "Really? He doesn't look old."

"We never do, not in our human forms. If we're in our wolf forms and we're old enough, we'll have gray in our fur. Besides, Duskrider's still a baby."

Ichigo put a finger to his lips and looked up like he was trying to remember something. It came to him. "That's right! You said he wasn't even half your age."

"Ah. I'm 409."

"And lovelier and lovelier by the minute." A blonde-haired stranger walked right into the tent like he owned the world. He wore casual clothing so he appeared to be no older than 22. The way he carried himself suggested that he was highly ranked along with the way he sniffed disdainfully when he glanced around the tent.

"Go away, Longclaw."

"That's not the way a loner should speak to a ranked, especially when he so graciously asked for your hand." He bent at the waist so he could lean down to her. "Surely you haven't forgotten about that."

"How could I?" Her voice was cold but her hands, which had stopped once again, were trembling.

"Tsk. I only came in here because I heard our dear Jamie had returned safely and wanted to see if it was true. They're saying you brought her back." He lowered his voice but they could still pick up, "Did you go just to get away from me? Do I scare you that much?"

"I'm not afraid of you!"

He took one of her hands. "If that's so, then why are you shaking?" She yanked her hand from his grasp. "It was truly cruel of her to leave you behind. But by now, I'm sure you're used to it, aren't you? After all, it's what the rest of your family did." Dawn dropped her head and her shoulders drooped under an invisible burden. "I offer to be the one person who stays with you and this is the treatment I get? I expected better from you."

"Sorry to disappoint you," she snapped sarcastically.

"Don't be." His tone implied she should be _very_ sorry. "But it's sad to think that she might've been able to stop me from asking for your hand. Instead, she took that obnoxious two-leg with her and left you alone with me."

"You only say that because you want _her_." If Ceros could've shot out of her eyes at him, they would've Gran Rey Ceroed him right then and there.

Longclaw straightened and looked down on her as if he might kick her in the face. "And what was the name of that pup that you were so attached to all those years ago?"

Again her head fell, "Stop," she breathed.

"I can be a nice person, you know that. I'd just like for you to be nice back. Well, I think I'll go see if I can get a glimpse of our dear Jamie." And with that, he swept out of the tent.

"I don't understand," Rukia made sure there was no awkward silence, "Why would you marry that man?"

"I wouldn't," she rested her unfinished shirt on top of the pile, "but I have to."

"I still don't understand."

"I'm a loner, Longclaw is a Delta. I can't refuse him. If he had asked Jamie instead of me, she could've refused him because she outranks him. Wolves of higher or equal rank than the person who asks for their hand can refuse. Those that are lower…can't."

"So you're stuck with him?"

"Ah. And Jamie and Duskrider don't have to know about this. If I want them to know, I'll tell them myself. Got it?" Everybody nodded. "Good. The only way for me to get out of this is if a wolf or higher or equal rank than Longclaw asks for my hand. If an Alpha asks, then my marriage is immediately transferred to him. If it's anybody lower than that, then the two will have a fight one-on-one and the winner gets my hand. That's how it works."

"How long until the wedding?"

"There's about a year long waiting period after someone asks for another's hand. Longclaw asked me two months ago. I was going to Jamie about it but she went to Japan a month ago. There's a one month period after a proposal where I could've gone up to my Alpha, if I had a pack, and told them about it.

"Could Jamie have fought him on your behalf?"

"If their ranks were the same, yes. But since he's below her, all she would have had to do was say, 'You can't marry her' and it would've been over. I technically shouldn't be able to have that ability but Jamie sort of adopted me into her nonexistent pack. Me and Duskrider both. We were the ones to find her so the Elders made us her watchers. Duskrider is her guardian so he's with her practically all the time which is why he gets even more pissed than I do when she leaves him behind."

"And you said you're Jamie's right hand," Tier recalled.

"Yes. I helped train her to fight a little and followed her to school when Duskrider couldn't. She's poured her heart out to me many times and I've done the same for her. I'm glad to have her as my Alpha. Even if she was a skank and left without me."

The t-shirt pile beside her twitched and Dawn looked over at it. Little Yachiru was peeking at one of them, "HEY! I'm not done yet! No looking until everybody gets theirs. Got it?"

The pink-haired girl giggled and scurried back to Kenpachi. "Ok!"

"As I was saying before I was so _rudely_ interrupted, I'm 409 years old."

"How old does that make Jamie then?" Ichigo smelled curious and nervous for the answer.

"She's only 19 but she acts older than Duskrider a lot of times. He's more of a baby than she is." She smelled relief from both Ichigo and Grimmjow and it made her happy she's chosen to sit so close to them. She wouldn't have been able to tell who the scent was coming from if she was on the other side of the circle. It was then she remembered Ichigo was 19 himself now and she nearly smiled. She completed the shirt and inspected it before topping off the pile with it and replacing her sewing materials. "Well, I think that's everything I should-"

Duskrider popped in and gave Dawn a meaningful look, "It's time." His voice was grave and pained.

"Already?"

When he nodded, his expression was sad and Dawn leapt to her feet. "They're going to begin any time now."

"Begin what?" Orihime asked, rising.

Both of them turned to her, "Jamie's punishment."

* * *

I love Dawnie! XD My friend (whom Dawn is based) had called me and through the marriage suggestion at me. I tweeked it a bit because of some issues there were with the ideas I already had for my "people" and viola! I figured Jamie had already had enough "look at me, I'm awesome" so I had to have Dawn do the whole "give ME the mic!" thing. :P Hope you all like it! I'm officially out of pre-written chapters so I have to get to work quick!


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